On 16/10/2013 12:29, Bob Hobden wrote:
"shazzbat" wrote


"Tom Gardner"wrote
David Hill wrote:
Around £10,000 were stolen from a house
Or should it be
Around £10,000 was stolen from a house.

If you regard the money as individual notes then they "were" stolen
but if you regard it as a single unit of money then it "was" stolen.
It's niggling me.

IMNSHO the sentence is referring to a single unit,
therefore "was" is correct. Besides, it "sounds"
more elegant. If, OTOH, you had written "£10,000
worth of notes" then "were" would be correct.

GrammAr and spulling are they're to help people communicate
and understand each other Beyond that it is a question of
style and elegance.

And no, I'm not prepared to defend that statement.

You don't need to. It is self-evident.

While we are on this thread when did it become "Bored of this...."
instead of "bored with this....". I've even seen it written in adverts
lately.

Now for a discussion, should it be "Can I help you" or "May I help you"
when you answer the phone etc? :-)

Can I help you is asking the question "Am I able to help you"
whilst
May I help you is asking "Do you wish me to help you"

My present bug bear is "For Free"
Free means "for nothing" so for for nothing makes no sense.