Learn English – “They are not” OR “It is not”

grammatical-number

I have an easy question about the usage of time expressions such as "I have to wait 10 minutes", or " the train should arrive in 5 minutes", etc.

What's the correct answer to say? Should it be singular or plural?

A) They're not a lot, they will pass quickly.

B) It's not a lot, it will pass quickly.

The correct answer should be A, in my opinion, minutes are plural!

Best Answer

In a comment, Greg Lee wrote:

No, it should be B with singular agreement, because the subject refers to a single interval of time, not a set of several intervals. (Maybe you can think of a context in which several intervals of time are actually being referred to, though for your example I cannot think of one, and in that case, agreement should be plural.)