There is or there are

there r

[nq:1]Hi, I'm writing a letter and running into this problem. Which sentence is correct: there is a number of research facilities at that university...,or there are a number of research facilities...?[/nq]
"are" in formal writing, but "is", often, in speech. The sentence does seem like a bit of truistic garbage though. How many universities can there be that don't have a "number" of "re

[nq:1]"are" in formal writing, but "is", often, in speech. The sentence does seem like a bit of truistic garbage though. How many universities can there be that don't have a "number" of "research facilities"?[/nq]
It's only the beginning of the sentence. It could continue, 'that meet the criteria of blah blah blah'.

Paul
My Lake District walking site (updated 29th September

[nq:1]I'm writing a letter and running into this problem. Which sentence is correct: there is a number of research facilities at that university..., or there are a number of research facilities...?[/nq]
There are numerous research. . . .
There are many research. . . .
That university has numerous research. . . .
That university has many research. . . .

[nq:2]Hi, I'm writing a letter and running into this problem. ... that university..., or there are a number of research facilities...?[/nq]
[nq:1]"are" in formal writing, but "is", often, in speech.[/nq]
More to the point, "there are" in formal writing, but "there's", often, in speech. I don't think I'd expect to hear an uncontracted "there is" there.

Evan Kirshenbaum + HP Laborat

[nq:2]"are" in formal writing, but "is", often, in speech. The ... there be that don't have a "number" of "research facilities"?[/nq]
[nq:1]It's only the beginning of the sentence. It could continue, 'that meet the criteria of blah blah blah'.[/nq]
or even "in whatever field you're interested in".
My favorite recruiting tool told me that UQAM competes in all three major sports s

[nq:2]I'm writing a letter and running into this problem. Which ... that university..., or there are a number of research facilities...?[/nq]
[nq:1]There are numerous research. . . .[/nq]
Couldn't agree more: "numerous" is almost invariably better than "a number of".
(And using one word rather than three is never a bad thing.)

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30

[nq:1]J. W. Love wrote[/nq]
[nq:2]There are numerous research. . . .[/nq]
[nq:1]Couldn't agree more: "numerous" is almost invariably better than "a number of". (And using one word rather than three is never a bad thing.)[/nq]
There are differences in meaning, though. "Numerous" means "a large number", not just "any number", implied by "a number of".

In other words, "numerous"

[nq:2]J. W. Love wrote Couldn't agree more: "numerous" is almost ... one word rather than three is never a bad thing.)[/nq]
[nq:1]There are differences in meaning, though. "Numerous" means "a large number", not just "any number", implied by "a number of". In other words, "numerous" is not almost invariably better than "a number of".[/nq]
That's why I included the "almost" in there:

[nq:1]On 27 Oct 2003, Skitt wrote[/nq]
[nq:2]There are differences in meaning, though. "Numerous" means "a large ... "numerous" is not almost invariably better than "a number of".[/nq]
[nq:1]That's why I included the "almost" in there: in cases where one truly means "any number", "a number of" is ... I've come across "a number of", the phrase is being used almost invariably to mean