There is/are one or two letters

<< There is/are one or two letters I'd like to answer this evening.>>

Only "are" is acceptable to my native ear.

Avangi<< There is/are one or two letters I'd like to answer this evening.>>

Only "are" is acceptable to my native ear.

If one subject is singular and one plural and the words are connected by the words or, nor, neither/nor, either/or, and not only/but also, you use the verb form of the subject that is nearest the verb.

This is from a quick search of mine on subject verb agreement. Does this change anyone's mind?

English 1b3 Does this change anyone's mind?

In lower register casual conversation, it's not uncommon to hear "There's one or two things we need to discuss," but I don't believe I've ever heard "There is one or two things we need to discuss."

But people who would say this would also say "There's three people waiting in line," simply because it

I agree that 'are' would sound almost absurd. Perhaps the site creating this rule is wrong. Perhaps either is correct

English 1b3I agree that 'are' would sound almost absurd.

Is this what you meant to say, 1b3??

I think 'one or two' is actually a phrase meaning 'a few, but not many', which is a plural form, so the use of 'are' can be defended.

Would you agree with:

There is one sausage or some apples that you can eat.
There are some apples or one sausage that you can eat.

I would.

English 1b3I agree that 'are' would sound almost absurd. Perhaps the site creating this rule is wrong. Perhaps either is correct

I thought English accidently misspoke in the statement you quoted. It seemed inconsistent with his previous statement.

The rule makes sense, but "one or two" seems to be a special case, as another poster pointed out. Surely the form is different from your sausage example.

I shouldn't have brought up "There's three people waiting in line." I was trying to give an examp