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While flicking through a textbook for beginners I came across the following:

How many biscuits are there? - There's a lot!

I wonder how "there is" can be explained to a student who knows that "biscuits" is a countable noun given in the plural in the sentence.

Yulia
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  • Biscuits are something that *can* be counted, yes. However, it is usually more important to know if there are enough biscuits for everyone, or if there are too few to share. "There are a few biscuits left if you want to get one before they're gone" is more useful than "There are four and a half biscuits in the breakroom". Therefore, "a lot" of biscuits is a normal way to provide a count. As "a lot" is singular, it is grammatical to use "there is" here. –  Aug 21 '17 at 14:45
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    @MikeKozar If we assume that *of biscuits* was omitted, *a lot* needs a verb in the plural: *There **are** a lot of biscuits.* The duplicate answers the question of why *is* was used instead. –  Aug 21 '17 at 16:14

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