Common mistake Possible agreement error: 'a lot/bunch/couple of' + singular countable noun

Possible agreement error: 'a lot/bunch/couple of' + singular countable noun

One common grammar mistake that people often make is using phrases like 'a lot of', 'bunch of', or 'couple of' with singular countable nouns. This error occurs when the noun that follows these phrases is singular, but the verb or pronoun that refers to it is treated as plural.

Let's take a look at some examples:

Incorrect: A lot of students is studying for the exam.
Correct: A lot of students are studying for the exam.

In the incorrect example, the singular noun 'students' is incorrectly paired with the singular verb 'is', when it should be paired with the plural verb 'are' instead.

Incorrect: She has a bunch of flower in her hand.
Correct: She has a bunch of flowers in her hand.

Here, 'bunch of' should be followed by the plural noun 'flowers' instead of the singular noun 'flower'.

Incorrect: I bought a couple of book yesterday.
Correct: I bought a couple of books yesterday.

In this example, 'couple of' should be matched with the plural noun 'books' rather than the singular noun 'book'.

These errors can be easily avoided by remembering that phrases like 'a lot of', 'bunch of', and 'couple of' are followed by plural countable nouns.

Linguix grammar checker is a powerful tool that can help you identify and correct common agreement errors like this, ensuring that your writing is grammatically correct and professional.

Possible agreement error: 'a lot/bunch/couple of' + singular countable noun mistake examples

Incorrect:
I have a lot of car.

Correct:
I have a lot of cars.
Incorrect:
There are a couple of anomaly.

Correct:
There are a couple of anomalies.
Incorrect:
What a bunch of idiot.

Correct:
What a bunch of idiots.
Incorrect:
There a are a lot of thing to do.

Correct:
There a are a lot of things to do.
Incorrect:
There a are a lot of thing to do.

Correct:
There a are a lot of things to do.
Incorrect:
There are a number of anomaly.

Correct:
There are a number of anomalies.
Incorrect:
A great number of problem can be prevented.

Correct:
A great number of problems can be prevented.
Correct:
I have a lot of wine.
Correct:
I did a lot of rat killing.
Correct:
It steals a lot of CPU power just like Facebook...
Correct:
A lack of vowel marking (often with ambiguity between no vowel an...
Correct:
Some of that MPG drop is more so due to a lack of highway driving lately.
Correct:
There are a number of the SEC why we're inserting it now.
Correct:
...e of the state banks, a weak financial market and a lack of bank transparency.
Correct:
I have a lot of time.
Correct:
We need a lot of fuel.
Correct:
Tom reminds me a lot of my dad.
Correct:
I don’t mean hot rodding, but a lot of stop and go with a lot of turns.
Correct:
Thankfully, a lot of mine are past the 8 issue and 14 is a long way off.
Correct:
I put on a lot of sunscreen, but I still got a bad sunburn.
Correct:
A number of different chemical and physical processes and mechanisms can be involved in the process of emulsification.
Correct:
So you have to be prepared for a lot of churn.
Correct:
It can cause a lot of damage.
Correct:
It has a lot of CPU power.
Correct:
I have a lot of triangle like elements.
Correct:
A lot of California used to be under water.
Correct:
She has a lot of book work to do.
Correct:
There is a lot of tear gas going to the floor.
Correct:
I am receiving a lot of invalid URL hits to our server.
Correct:
This actually could save a lot of space while also looking good.
Correct:
There’s a lot of upside to leaving it in.
Correct:
I have read a lot of Kate Atkinson so far.
Correct:
I played a lot of UNO with her.
Correct:
There are a lot of Middle Eastern countries.
Correct:
The virus spread to a lot of East Africa.
Correct:
I've seen a lot of Tom recently.
Correct:
A great number of problems can be prevented.
Correct:
The effective temperatures of a great number of peculiar (Ap) and metallic line (Am) stars are reduced to one system.
Correct:
A great number of problem conditions can arise.
Correct:
A nearby pair of a vacancy and an interstitial is often called a Frenkel defect or Frenkel pair.
Correct:
A decent number of out of the money $19 calls were exercised last night, we haven't seen that play in some time.
Correct:
I’ve got a bunch of Node.js services hooked up to new relic.
Correct:
It appears that my evil twin went out last night and proceeded to get in peoples faces and talk a lot of smack, as well as leave messages on answering machines.
Correct:
I hope to open a bunch of the investor owned utilities for general trading.
Correct:
I think by fixing the rate like this we are leaving a lot of money behind.
Correct:
He thinks the best person is probably someone from KJ who does a lot of stuff up there.
Correct:
I've got a bunch of volunteer work that I've been doing, and I'm booked up through the 17th.
Correct:
Many languages have a lot of inconsistency.
Correct:
We've lost a lot of cushion and I predict that the fourth quarter will be even worse.
Correct:
EPower is taking a lot of Mark's time.
Correct:
In 2010, the United States began establishing a number of Lincoln learning centers in Afghanistan.
Correct:
Functional average of a number of field operator is called correlation function or correlator.
Correct:
A bytecode-compiling implementation, portable and runs on a number of Unix and Unix-like systems (including Mac OS X), as well as Microsoft Windows and several other systems.

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