Singular or plural?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

  1. There ___(is, are ) a group of girls dancing.

  2. A group of girls___(is, are) dancing.

  3. A bunch of colorful threads___(is, are ) neatly done up as a decoration.

Thanks.

2

Grammatically, ‘group’ is the singular noun subject in #1 and #2 while ‘a bunch of’ is a quantifier (making ‘threads’ the plural subject). However, notional and proximal concord will make all the verbs plural as often as not. In #1, however, the effect of the existential ‘there’ as a dummy subject and the tendency of native speakers to prefer ‘there’s’ over ‘there’re’ will more likely select the singular ‘is’.

3

I derived answers from your explanations. Are they correct?

  1. There is a group of girls dancing.
  2. A group of girls is dancing.
  3. A bunch of colorful threads are neatly done up as a decoration.
4

Yes, and so are these:

  1. There are a group of girls dancing.
  2. A group of girls are dancing.
  3. A bunch of colorful threads is neatly done up as a decoration.