 #2 (permalink) Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:47 am "a lot of" for countable nouns |
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| steve88 wrote: |
| 1. Can we use "a lot of " for countable nouns like a lot of crows or a lot of cups? |
Yes.
| steve88 wrote: |
| 2. Which is the right way to say: "There are a lot of crows." or "There is a lot of crows." |
The correct way is, "There are a lot of crows." Even though "a lot of" looks singular, it's "invisible" when we decide to make the verb singular or plural. We decide based on the noun after it. So...
"There is a lot of fog over the city."
"There are a lot of crows over the city."
There are more "invisible" quantity terms like this, such as "a few" and "a number of".
| steve88 wrote: |
| 3. Do we say "There are a basketball court, a badminton court and a football field." or "There is a basketball court, a badminton court and a football field."? |
I believe you should use "are" in that sentence, because the logical subject ("a basketball court, a badminton court and a football field") is plural. Remember that "there" can't determine the person or number of a verb, because it's not a noun or pronoun. |
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Jamie (K)
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Steve88