Has or Have?

Question

A large sum of money has or have? At first I thought it was has because I think you can replace "a large sum of money" with the pronoun "it". But when I say a large sum of money I'm talking about something plural... so I don't know which one to use. I think it should be has, can anyone clear up my doubt?

One can count money but that does not make it plural. :) - ian-hill, Jan 17, 2015

Answer 1

A large sum of money has

The subject of the sentence here is "sum." The "of money" part is an adjectival expression describing "sum"

Beat me by seconds. :) - ian-hill, Jan 17, 2015

Gracias! I'd vote for your answer but I can't hahah, thank you very much. - Kuroka, Jan 17, 2015

Answer 2

Depends on the context. You could say 'It is important that a large sum of money have proper investment' (this is an example of the rarely used English subjunctive). However, if you use 'has', you won't be considered wrong...

Answer 3

"Sum" is singular, so "A large sum of money has" would be correct, regardless of how much money makes up the sum.

I'm guessing, though, that you might be wanting to know which verb to use with something like "four million dollars": "Four million dollars has/have been placed in the safe deposit box." I would use the singular verb in that sentence, as the four million dollars would be regarded as a single sum of money, not as four million individual entities.

Answer 4

It is ****has**** on the basis of sum [singular] To my ears Falda's suggestion of a one off construction using 'have' sounds odd. I am aware of our rare uses of the subjunctive and happily use were rather than was. However, as a learner move forward thinking has - I would probably say for Faldas sentence - It is important that large sums of money are invested properly - but then that wasn't your question!

'It's important that large sums of money be properly invested' is, technically speaking, correct & preferable to 'are'... - Faldaesque, Jan 17, 2015

But the English subjunctive is so rarely used nowadays that it is largely optional ;-) - Faldaesque, Jan 17, 2015

Or '...be invested properly' (the order of adjective/adverb is immaterial in this context)... - Faldaesque, Jan 17, 2015

yes I accept be is an alternative there. - Mardle, Jan 17, 2015

The subjunctive is a 'mood', not a 'tense'. Assigning 'tense' to a verb suggests it is important at a particular time, whereas the proper investment of money is a timeless concept ;-) - Faldaesque, Jan 17, 2015