Money Is Or Are Grammar

There is a word monies but that would refer to two separate bank accounts or something singular when the separation is of importance.

Money is or are grammar. Money is a mass noun much like snow water or sand. Both garner and the cambridge guide to english usage explain that monies is usually used by legal or finance writers to talk about individual sums or discrete sums of money. When deciding whether to use is or are look at whether the noun is plural or singular. Money is a collective noun meaning it does not usually need a plural.

If the noun is singular use is. A singular subject she bill car takes a singular verb is goes shines whereas a plural subject takes a plural verb. Lots of money is or are in some respects it is a crazy language especially with regards to spelling. If it is plural or there is more than one noun use are.

Monies means sums of money. The rule is as emsr2d2 has said in posting number four. I assume this is what you mean by suggesting that money may be considered plural and indeed. These are nouns which do not represent items that are generally conceived as coming in individual pieces but rather exist in piles of various sizes.

Money is a mass noun like water or bread or cattle. The list of items is are on the desk. In some legal or financial contexts though moneys is used to describe discrete funds or money from several difference sources. Here is a brief primer on when to use plural or singular verbs with money.

A money one money or two monies etc. Use singular verbs with specific amounts of money even if they include plural words for currency e g dollars cents or pounds. Twenty dollars doesn t go far at the gas pump these days. The chicago manual of style s rule 9 25 says sums of money of more than one hundred dollars are normally expressed by numerals therefore we feel that expressing the amount of money as 84 000 is adequate unless your legal department requires that it also be spelled out.

Although money has this special plural form it is still not a countable noun. However these are forms and structures which have become relatively fixed for historical reasons. Monies is an uncountable plural noun. Here are a few examples.

The bigger question is since money is already a mass noun why do we need monies no matter how we spell it. Moneys is a plural of money which is a current medium which can be exchanged for goods and services. It takes a singular verb. If you know that list is the subject then you will choose is for the verb.

Whichever way you spell it the plural of money is used almost exclusively in formal business contexts.