Grammar Police - I have a question.

[Henry Hawthorne]

Hi,

Generally, I think I'm grammatically fairly competent. However, over recent days, one particular problem has been pressing me. So, Grammar Police, I put to you:

There are a million people.

Or

There is a million people.

Which is correct?

[AlexKP]

First one, but the second might not be a major offence depending upon context.

[TheEnd]

"is" is singular, "are" are plural

thats how to done good grammer

[missdiane]

Henry Hawthorne said:

Hi,

Generally, I think I'm grammatically fairly competent. However, over recent days, one particular problem has been pressing me. So, Grammar Police, I put to you:

There are a million people.

Or

There is a million people.

Which is correct?

I vote 'are'

However, grammatically fairly competent sounds odd, should it be fairly grammatically competent

[I am a Tree]

How about - there's a million people

[Shaw Tarse]

I'm a Tree said:

How about - there's a million people

Don't help him til he tells us about the biohazard sauce!

[thunderbelmont]

There are a million people

Alternative,

A million people there are, mmmm yes.

[Henry Hawthorne]

I am a Tree said:

How about - there's a million people

As in... "There is a million people".

But then, you can say "There's five people". This should actually technically be "There're five people".

I'm still not completely convinced. I know "is" is used for singular and "are" for plural, but I'm not sure that "There is a million people" sounds correct.

[Henry Hawthorne]

Shaw Tarse said:

I'm a Tree said:

How about - there's a million people

Don't help him til he tells us about the biohazard sauce!

I've posted!

[Saddle bum]

"Million" is not a collective noun, only they attract the singular form of a verb, ie. "The crowd is...............

[MacGee]

agree with saddlesore^^^^^

[GPSS]

Which is correct? is wrong.

[chunkymonkey71]

Henry Hawthorne said:

Hi,

Generally, I think I'm grammatically fairly competent. However, over recent days, one particular problem has been pressing me. So, Grammar Police, I put to you:

There are a million people.

Or

There is a million people.

Which is correct?

Like me, you tend to use commas a bit much!

I would say there ARE a million people.

[srebbe64]

Where are all these people?

[I am a Tree]

Where, exactly, are they?

[MacGee]

At Calais with no passports !!!!

[groucho]

Who?

[MacGee]

so which is/are correct...there is/are a million immigrants waiting to get their hands on our money.

[Henry Hawthorne]

GPSS said:

Which is correct? is wrong.

So is that.

[audidoody]

"million" is just the adjective describing a collective noun.

So it's "are"