Staggering

Hi

I think the expression "a staggering five thousand people" is correct.

"A" does suggest singular, which is why it is there. Let me explain.

The "a" helps to unify all the five-thousand people as a group, like one unit, instead of each person being an individual unit.

Hope it helped
Kartik

yewsonyi Is the expression "a staggering 5000 people" correct? My instinct tells me it should be OK, but "a" seems to me to suggest singular. Many thanks.

Please give the whole sentence. It's likely unnatural. eg.:

After Hilary set up her Twitter account, within a few seconds she already had a staggering number of 5000 followers.

Thanks Kartik and Alphecca for your replies. Here is an example from google,

"Losses at Oprah's OWN approach a staggering $330m as industry insiders predict it will be axed within the year."

With a similar sentence structure, can I say "A staggering 5 million dollars was spent on food alone. "? It actually sounds natural to me, but my grammar tells there is something wrong with "was"

Did you try writing "five" instead of "5"? I don't see anything wrong with your sentence.