Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Marrion]

A couple of days (is/are) all I need to complete this report.

In these sentence, which one is correct, "is" or "are"?

Otherwise, "is" and "are" is correct in this sentence?

[redset]

You're talking about a single period of time (which happens to be a couple of days) so you use the singular form, is.

[redset]

I should say, though, that you can use are if you want to consider the days as separate and individual, so it wouldn't be wrong in this case. People would usually use is because you're talking about a (singular) length of time that you need.

[Marrion]

A few months ago, in this esl cafe, someone said that if "a couple of" is used with a period of time, an amount of money, or a quantity that represents a total amount, we can use "a couple of" with both" singular verbs" and "plural verbs". So,

A couple of days is(or are) all I need to complete this report.

In this sentence, "is" and "are" are correct, said he. And I have seen that "a couple of" is used with both" singular verbs" and "plural verbs" on the web sites.

And then

If "a couple of" is used with a period of time, an amount of money, Should we use "a couple of" with only "singular verbs" as usual?

[redset]

Well like I said, it's down to whether or not you're talking about the things as plural individuals (like two people, or two days) or as a single group (a couple). Using either a plural or singular verb form emphasises this. A good example is when you talk about a band - you can either think of them as the individual members, or as the actual group entity. You can say 'U2 is the biggest band of all time', talking about the musical collective, and you can say 'U2 have cancelled their tour due to exhaustion' which focuses on the individual members as people.

This works when you're using 'a couple of' with amounts of time and money, but usually when people use these phrases they're considering them as singular periods, amounts etc. When you say 'a couple of days' you're usually talking about one continuous period of time, so you'd generally use is. Using the plural isn't wrong, but in most situations 'a couple of days are...' gives the wrong emphasis. Does that make sense?

[Marrion]

I got it.
But I want to identify what I get from you.

When we use "a couple of" with amounts of time and money, etc, if we consider "a couple of" as separate and individual, we can use "a couple of" with "plural verbs".
But in most situations, when people use "a couple of" with amounts of time and money, people would usually use "is" because people are talking about a (singular) length of time or money.

So when I use "a couple of" with amounts of time and money, I will necessarily use "a couple of" with "singular verbs".

Do you agree with my comprehension for your answers?

[redset]

Yeah, that's it .

[Marrion]

Thank you, very much.