Re: "are" or "is" for countable nouns in specific phrases

Originally Posted by
Pierce111
I have some doubts whether I should use form "are" or "is" in specific phrases. When I watch TV I sometimes hear that people (natives) use both those forms in those phrases and it makes me confused.
I will write below such pairs of sentences and I mark green my preference
1.
a) There are many cars on the street.
b) There is many cars on the street.
2.
a) There is a few cars on the street.
b) There are a few cars on the street.
3.
a) There are few cars on the street.
b) There is few cars on the street.
4.
a) There is a lot of cars on the street.
b) There are a lot of cars on the street.
5.
a) There are lots of cars on the street.
b) There is lots of cars on the street.
6.
a) There are some cars on the street.
b) There is some cars on the street.
Please, give me the clear answer which of those are correct.
Thanks in advance.
In each one of those examples, "There are" is correct. You will hear "There's a lot of ..." in spoken English because we're lazy when we speak and the contraction "There's" comes much more readily than "There're" or "There are", but it is grammatically incorrect. If you're going to use "many", "lots of" or "a lot of" with a countable noun, then you need to use "There are".
With uncountable nouns, use "There is" (There is a lot of water, there is a lot of sand, there is lots of gas). You will note that you can't use "many" with uncountable nouns. "Lots of" sounds clunky but we do use it. I would stick with "There is + a lot of" for uncountable nouns.
Remember - correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing make posts much easier to read.