Which is the correct answer ?

0 'There is a large number of students' is correct 02br
00you should use "is" because the verb refers to "a large number", which is singular. 0-

0 I was taught in my school English class to use "is" for "a large number of", as Amandine said. But nowadays many speakers take "a large number of" as a determiner like "many" and use "are". 02br
00Google gives (whole/ edu / ac.UK): 02br
00 "There are a large number of ~s": 546,000/33,100/11,600 02br
00 "There is a large number of ~s": 93,500/7,81

0 I think I'd use 'is' when speaking of the 'large number' as a whole, or as an abstraction, and 'are' when many students were 'doing something' in particular. 02br
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00Then again, it's easier to say 'there's a large number...' than 'there're a large number...'; so people often say that too. 02br
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001. "Here's the electoral roll for Birmingham Lady

0 maxmouse, 02br
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00Technically, neither sentence is exactly very idiomatic. You need a little more. "There is/are a large number of students waiting in line", for example. 02br
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00That said, "number of" is an exception. It takes the plural. So "there are" is correct. 02br
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00You are compounding the problem here, however

0 CalifJim wrote: 02br
00You are compounding the problem here, however, by using "number of" together with "there is/are", which, at least in relaxed style, can almost always be "there is" no matter what the grammatical number of the following expression. So, "there is" can be used, but not in very formal styles. 02br
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