Plural or singlular

Question

I received an email today that began with the following:"There is lots of information available....."Should the verb be is or are?

Avangi · Accepted Answer

"There is lots of information available.."

The verb should be singular, because "lots" is understood to be slang for "a lot of."
(There is much information available...)

The key lies in "information," which is uncountable.

If you switch to a countable noun, then the verb becomes plural.
There are lots of other jobs available.

BillJ · Answer

Avangi
The verb should be singular, because "lots" is understood to be slang for "a lot of."

(There is much information available...)

I'd prefer 'altenative' to 'slang'. It's best to think of a lot of or lots of as determinatives (not nouns) in such sentences, so the noun they reference controls the the verb (singular or plural). As you say, information is a non-count noun so the verb must be singular.

BillJ

Avangi · Answer

You're right, Bill. The stuff about "lots of" is irrelevant. "Information" is key to the choice of a plural or singular verb.

We should stress that "of" goes with the "determinative," as you say, and not with "information."

If you say, "Three lots of tobacco are waiting for you in the truck," then "lots" is the subject of the sentence, the preposition "of" goes with the modifier "tobacco," and the verb is plural.

Sorry, terrible example. I can't think of a good example of what we have lots of off hand.

However, I still think of "lots of" in the OP's example as slang.

Hmmm, how about, "Three lots of antique vases are going to be auctioned here tomorrow."

(I liked "tobacco," because its an uncountable.)

"Three lots of Beatles memorabilia are going to be auctioned here tomorrow."

The object of "of" (memorabilia) is singular/uncountable. The subject "lots" is plural.

BillJ · Answer

Avangi
We should stress that "of" goes with the "determinative," as you say, and not with "information."

With the informal quantifier a lot of, or the alternative lots of, the noun that follows (i.e. the one that is being 'determined') is complement to the preposition of and it's also the head noun in the NP. It's that noun (not lot/lots) that dictates the number agreement.

Avangi
If you say, "Three lots of tobacco are waiting for you in the truck," then "lots" is the subject of the sentence, the preposition "of" goes with the modifier "tobacco," and the verb is plural.

Sorry, terrible example. I can't think of a good example of what we have lots of off hand.

That's different because here lots is a straightforward NOUN, not a quantitative determiner, so other considerations apply. It can be roughly glossed as items, units, batches, consignments or such like. The subject of the sentence is the NP Three lots of tobacco where the head of the NP is the plural noun lots (not tobacco) which controls the verb, cf Two lots of land are for sale, cf one lot of land is for sale. Tobacco and land here are non-count nouns, but that's not the important issue. The same analysis applies with count nouns, such as car or truck: Twenty lots of cars are being auctioned, cf only one lot of trucks is being auctioned.

Avangi
Hmmm, how about, "Three lots of antique vases are going to be auctioned here tomorrow."

Same here - lots (not vases) is the head noun in the NP Three lots of antique vases and it controls the verb are ...., cf one lot of antique vases is ....

Bill

Avangi · Answer

I think we're both saying the same thing with slightly different language. At any rate, I agree with everything you say, except you seem to suggest that "lots of" and "a lot of" are equally garbage. In my first post I suggested that "much" was logically equivalent to both of them. But I continue to find "a lot of" to be higher register than "lots of." At this point I won't argue that either of them is grammatically correct.

I like "lots of land," by the way. Why couldn't I have thought of that?? [:^)] Reminds me of the old cowboy song, Don't Fence Me In. (O give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above.) (Yeah, I know.)

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