There is/There are

Question

Is it correct to say?There is a large number of people who are willing to take part in TV programmes and various castings.A number of people who want to help other people in need is constantly increasing.

MalRey · Accepted Answer

There are a large number of people who are willing to take part in TV programmes. ~~and various castings.~~ I'm not clear what you mean by "various castings."

The number of people who want to help other people in need is constantly increasing.

Terryxpress · Answer

It is important to note that you have two different constructions, both using 'a (large) number of'. You have 'there is a large number...' and 'a number of people...(verb).'

Let's take the second sentence first:
In terms of subject-verb agreement, collective nouns such as total, number and range often depend on the article that comes before them as to whether they take a singular or plural verb.
When they are preceded by the indefinite article a, they are usually treated as plural:
A number of ice cream flavours are available at the coffee shop.
A total of 18 people were present for this afternoon's workshop.

When they are preceded by the definite article the, they are generally treated as singular.
The number of available flavours is quite astounding.
The total was far less than we had expected.

Your sentence is:
A number of people who want to help other people in need is constantly increasing.
But...but you must have a specific number of people - you must know at any one time how many people there are - to see that that number is increasing!
To make this absolutely clear:
She (to TV reporter): A number of people rang to complain about your program tonight.
He: How many?
She: I don't know. The receptionist didn't say.
So - he doesn't know whether this is more or less than last night. Compare:
She: The number of people who rang to complain tonight was 101.
He: Last night, the number was 90. The number is increasing. Good. I want to be controverial.
So - your second sentence should read:
The number of people who want to help other people in need is constantly increasing.
In your first sentence, you write:
There is a large number of people who are willing to take part in TV programmes and various castings.
In this construction, the verb after 'there' agrees with the noun that comes after the verb. That is,
the subject follows the verb but still determines whether the verb is in the singular or plural.
There is/There's a large number of people...
There are large numbers of folk from all walks of life seriously affected by these new policies.

Ivanhr · Answer

It seems to me that the presence of "large", or lack thereof, influences the choice between "are" and "is".

There are a number of people outside.

but

There is a large number of people outside.

In casual speech, I also hear "there's a large number of people outside". (the contracted form is probably okay just in casual/informal speech)

There is/There are

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