Difference between there is and there are

[bebe heart]

What's the difference between there is and there are?

There is a lot of people in that room.

There are a lot of people in that room.

 

[tedmc]

Only the second sentence is correct.

 

[Tdol]

The verb agrees with the plural people, not a lot of:

There is a lot of water in the bottle. (Water is uncountable, so the verb is singular)
There are a lot of people in the class. (Here the noun is countable and plural, so the verb is plural too)

 

[Matthew Wai]

The verb agrees with the plural people, not a lot of:

I think this is because the subject is 'people' rather than 'a lot of', but I am not a teacher.

 

[Tdol]

It is.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Bebe Heart:

May I just add a few thoughts to the excellent answers that you have already received?

1. When a sentence starts with "there is / are," my books tell me to forget the "there" when you analyze it.

a. Thus: " ___ a lot of people."

i. Now put that in regular order (subject + verb): A lot of people ___. Of course, you would say "A lot of people are."

2. In ordinary American conversation, people also fully accept "There's a lot of people."

a. For some reason (which your humble servant cannot explain), if "There is" is changed to the contraction, then it's perfectly acceptable in ordinary conversation.

i. Compare:

(a) Here is your shoes. (Unacceptable)
(b) Here are your shoes. (Grammatically correct)
(c) Here's your shoes. (Acceptable in ordinary conversation)

 

[bebe heart]

Thank you, in movies I here there's a lot of this or that, and in books I read there are a lot of, so it confused me, now you have cleared it :lol:

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you. In movies I [STRIKE]here[/STRIKE] hear "There's a lot of this or that", and in books I read "There are a lot of", so it confused me. Now you have cleared it up. :lol:

You probably hear both in movies and both in books. As you now know from this thread, both "There is a lot of ..." and "There are a lot of ..." are acceptable, depending on the noun that comes after "a lot of".