When writing about specific quantities, should the verb reflect a singular or a plural value? Do abbreviations vs. spelled-out words make any difference?
I took 2 ml of water, which was/were then added…
Six microliters of protein solution was/were placed in a centrifuge…
Best Answer
These constructions are called "mass nouns" (or something comparable). Although they refer to more than one thing (e.g., more than one milliliter of water), they treat these things as a single unit.
Mass nouns take singular verbs - not plural (reference and reference).
Take your first example:
The water, despite being more than one milliliter, was added at the same time, as a single unit. It would not be helpful (semantically or grammatically) to think of each milliliter of water as being added separately. Instead, treat the mass noun as the group it is, and use the singular.