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There is a lot of animals.

There are lot of animals.

Which one between the above sentences is correct? Or can both be used?

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Unless the second is a typo, then neither are correct.

"There is a lot of" and "There are a lot of" are both legitimate terms, depending on whether the noun is countable or not.

For example:

  • There are a lot of cars. ("cars" is countable)
  • There is a lot of sugar. ("sugar" is not countable)

In your example, animals are countable, therefore the sentence should read.

There are a lot of animals.

or

There are lots of animals.

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    There are also (unusual) situations where "lot" is a singular term for a particular quantity of things. For example, an auctioneer might sell a his-and-hers matched set of cars together as one "lot".
    – Jasper
    Jan 2, 2017 at 8:54
  • @Jasper What if the cars are parked in that "lot" in particular?
    – Pierre Arlaud
    Jan 2, 2017 at 15:39
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    Doesn't "neither" take a singular verb? Shouldn't it be "neither is"?
    – urnonav
    Jan 6, 2018 at 4:15
  • — ("sugar" is not countable) — moreover, it's not in plural form there (given not as "there … lot of sugars". I consider this not a proper example hence.
    – poige
    Aug 27, 2019 at 16:50
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If you are describing a plot of land that has many animals, then use the first option. If you are describing a situation where there are many animals in general, use "There are many animals."

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"There ARE a lot of animals" is incorrect. "Lot" is the subject of the sentence and it is singular. "Is" goes with a singular subject, "are" goes with a plural subject. "There ARE lots" is correct because the subject "LOTS" is plural. When you say..."There IS a lot of animals"...that is correct. "Animals" is plural but it's not the subject. It's the object of the preposition "of". This is also INCORRECT..."There was an accident. But none of the passengers WERE injured". The correct way is...."But none of the passengers WAS injured". "Passengers" is not the subject but the object of the preposition "of". "None" is the subject. It's singular because "None" is short for "not one". If you're asked..."how many were injured?". You wouldn't say..."Not one were". You'd say..."Not one was".

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The subject, to me, is Lot - as in Bag, Box, Bundle, etc... So, There is a BAG of cars...Think "parking" Lot.... There IS a Parking Lot of cars - NOT - There ARE a Parking Lot of cars. That said, As commented by someone else, either way sounds incorrect to me.

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Neither of them are. It should be either of those:

There are a lot of animals.

There are lots of animals.

In these constructions, the verb ('are') will agree with the noun phrase coming after it, and 'a lot of animals' is plural so you need to use 'are'.

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  • After reading the above answers, I reminded myself usefully of the advice on using singular or plural verbs after neither. (Which is correct, neither is or neither are?)
    – Ronald Sole
    Jan 2, 2017 at 11:57

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