singular vs plural - "There is a lot " vs. "There are lot"

There is a lot of animals.

There are lot of animals.

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

Answer

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.