Passage of time ...
 

Another English language question ...

Perhaps:

A unit (singular) of time has passed ...
Units (plural) of time have passed ...

e.g.:

A decade has passed ... (A ten year period has passed ...)
Ten years have passed ...

A week has passed ... (A seven day window has passed)
Seven days have passed

An hour has passed ... (A 60 minute time frame has passed)
60 minutes have passed ...

But what if "ten years" is viewed as a block of time ...?

have passed.




My current bugbear is "A savings of....."


argh

If it's mutually understood that in context "ten years" is short for a ten year block (singular); then, has could be used. I'd view it as an idiomatic expression.

Lord, I wish ya'll could meet some of the folks down in the MS Delta. I think you would go into grammar meltdown

These ones have passed, on accident.

I don't want to be rekwaared to get my ass back up in them woods.

My brother likes to tell the kids "Come here once."

Grammar: the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit.

while we're on the subject of TEN.

Please help me with this one.

"The handle saver cost less than ten dollars."

or

"The handle saver cost fewer than ten dollars."

***

Honestly, when I have a puzzle like this I prefer to change the structure to be less ambiguous. "The price of the handle saver was under ten dollars."

If you can count them, it's fewer, if not, it's less.

Fewer dollars
Less water

"The handle saver costs under ten dollars."

The handle saver costs just $9.99!

But wait, that's not all! Order in the next 10 minutes and we'll throw in the lid holder AND the carrot peeler at no extra charge.

Operators are standing by!

It's from RONCO, and it really really works!