I am currently working through "The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation" by Jane Straus. In the section on subject-verb agreement the author describes a rule for sentences that begin with "there" or "here" which claims that the true subject in these sentences will follow the verb.
In the exercises, there are two sentences where I am supposed to identify the subjects and verbs as well as correct any issues. There is one sentence in particular that is confusing me. The sentence "There's lots of food left" has the subject "lots" and according to the rules given should have the verb "are" but the book states that this is incorrect. The correct verb according to the book is "is". Why is this the case when there is a plural subject?
Best Answer
Consider 'Lots of cheese is good for you' vs. 'Lots of cheeses are good for you.' The 'is' and 'are' cannot be interchanged.
Evidently the plurality of 'lots of X' is determined by X, not by 'lots.' Whether this rule 'makes sense' is another question, but so long as it holds, there is no contradiction with the other rule you described as applied to your problem case.