与意义维持一致:
这种看法觉得，不应该看 a quantity of / quantities of本身，而应该看这个词组后面所接的是什么名词，假如后面的名词是单数，则谓语用单数；假如名词是复数，那样谓语用复数。这一点与a lot of相同，即遵循意义一致原则。比如：
There is only a small quantity of wine left.
Great quantities of sand was washed down the hillside by the rain last night.
A large quantity of air conditions have been sold since the summer came.
Huge quantities of oil were shipped to Japan last year.
请问老师，以上说法正不正确？
以上说法不正确，致使 Great quantities of sand was washed down the hillside by the rain last night.有误。应改为：Great quantities of sand were washed down the hillside by the rain last night.
以下两种看法都可以同意：
1、与词形维持一致（quantity 的单复数，决定谓语动词的单复数）：这种看法觉得，不看aquantityof 或quantitiesof 后面接单数名词还是复数名词，只看quantity本身。即：quantity是单数，谓语动词就用单数；quantities是复数，谓语动词就用复数。即遵循“语法一致”的原则。比如：
Alargequantityofwashingmachineshasbeensold.
A great quantityofmoney was spent on the project.
Largequantitiesofbooks were sent to the village schools.
Largequantitiesofsandwerewasheddownthehillbytherain.
2、还有一种比较时尚的看法（即张道真、薄冰、赵振才等教授的看法）就是：a quantity of或 quantities of，其后均可跟不可数名词或复数名词。在句中作主语时，a quantity of接不可数名词时，谓语动词用单数形式；接可数名词复数时，谓语动词用复数形式。quantities of后接不可数名词或可数名词复数时，谓语动词都用复数形式。
Alargequantityofwashingmachineshavebeensold.
A great quantityofmoney was spent on the project.
Largequantitiesofbooks were sent to the village schools.
Largequantitiesofsandwerewasheddownthehillbytherain.
【评价】第二种看法虽然很好，而且英美语料库中也有很多的例句，但有两个不一样的划分标准：quantity单数时谓语看名词，复数时谓语看quantities。结果是引入了例外，加强了记忆量。不如第一种便宜！
