(I don't know if this is the right place to ask this; if it's not please let me know.)
So I'm a PA & I’ve been having an argument with my boss over the following:
I was under the impression that it is perfectly acceptable, although informal, to say: “There's a myriad of possible combinations” but he insists that
“There are a myriad of possible combinations” is the only correct way to say it.
We both are non-native English speakers. Could you help us out?
Thanks in advance:)
Best Answer
"There are myriad" and "there are a myriad" are both correct, and in fact NGrams shows that both are far more common than the "there is" and "there's" variations.
Some weird logic has been used by some people here to suggest that "myriad" has to be singular, even though everyone would say "There are a thousand".
(In British English, collective nouns are frequently treated as plural, but even American English regularly treats numerals and expressions like "a lot" as plural.)
"There are myriad combinations" (where "myriad" is an adjective) would probably be commoner than "there are a myriad of combinations", but both are correct.
"There is a myriad of combinations", with singular agreement, should probably be regarded as correct, too. But even if it weren't, "There's" would still be acceptable colloquially, in the same way that "There's hundreds" or "There's five" is generally accepted colloquially, even though formally it should be "There are hundreds" and "There are five". ("There're" is not often seen written down, though some people say it.)