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Are units in English singular or plural?

I want to say:

Those sixty dollars are gone

That sixty dollars is gone

The reason I ask is because I was originally typing:

Those $60 are gone

But that looks funny to me. Which is more correct?

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3 Answers 3

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Plural if you're thinking of the $60 as 60 individual dollars, singular if you're thinking of the sum of money as a whole.

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Those sixty dollars are gone

That sixty dollars is gone

I believe that both those and that work when the amount is spelled out, but just as you've written them as PeterShor and Barrie have said with plural and singular verb agreement.

Those sixty dollars were supposed to be my ticket out of this town, and now they're sailing away on a strong southern breeze.

That sixty dollars was supposed to be my ticket out of this town, and now it's sailing away on a strong southern breeze.

Those $60 are gone

When the amount is presented as currency, I believe that is the better choice.

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  • @PeterShor ah yes; that distinction didn't catch my attention. :x Jun 16, 2012 at 16:01
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    I think if you say those you have to use plural, and if you say that, you have to use singular. Jun 16, 2012 at 16:52
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Maybe you thing "Those $60 are gone" looks funny because the symbol "$" substitutes the word "dollars", and the symbol doesn't require a plural, but the expression is correct. I'd say that a possible use of the singular version could be when talking about some amount of money that could be a single dollar bill, for example, $10. Then, you could say "That $10 is gone".

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