“amounts of 不可数名词”作主语谓语动词用单数还是复数

问题描述

The amounts of money being lost by the company ______ enough to make it a metaphor for an industry that was teetering.

A. was B. were

“amounts of +不可数名词”作主语谓语动词用单数还是复数？比如本题，从amounts 来看，它是复数，但从money来看，它又不可数，该如何定夺？用单数还是复数？谢谢！

老师答疑

黎老师：

“amounts of +不可数名词”作主语谓语动词用复数，但“amount of +不可数名词”作主语谓语动词用单数。例如：
The amount of the bill is ＄100. 账单总额是100美元。（《英汉双解当代美国英语学习词典》p.40）
Large amounts of money  were spent on the bridge. ( 赵振才编著《英语常见问题解答大词典》增订版 p.96)
所以下面一题答案是B：
The amounts of money being lost by the company ______ enough to make it a metaphor for an industry that was teetering.
A. was B. were