Should I say “there is a handful of…” or “there are a handful of…”?

Question

I want to write that I have handful of somethings. Which of these is the correct form?

1. There is a handful of somethings.
2. There are a handful of somethings.

Are both correct?

Answer 1

Rimmer correctly identifies phrases like a handful of . . . and a pack of . . . as premodifying elements in a noun phrase, rather than as the subject of the clause and, for the same reason, Mustafa is right in saying that a number of . . . is followed by a plural verb. However, there is a tendency, particularly in speech, for There’s . . . rather than There are . . . to be used regardless of the number of the noun that follows, as in, for example, There’s a few people who believe my story. In the words of the ‘Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English’ (the stripped-down version of the magisterial Longman Grammar),

‘in conversation . . . the verb is likely to be singular even when the following notional subject is plural’.

And as ‘The Cambridge Guide to English Usage’ says,

[There’s] seems to be evolving into a fixed phrase, rather like the French C’est . . . , serving the needs of the ongoing discourse rather than the grammar of the sentence.

Answer 2

Both are correct, but it depends on the noun. You can break it down like this:

There are apples. How many? A handful. "There are a handful of apples". (incidentally, you can replace 'handful' with 'lot' or 'ton' and still have the same construction.) 'Is' may be used as a colloquial "slip" of words.

There are a handful of apples.

? There is a handful of apples.

However, let's take a non-countable noun such as 'sand' and see what sounds correct: There is sand. How much? A handful. "There is a handful of sand". If the verb was plural here, it would sound awkward to me.

There is a handful of sand.

*There are a handful of sand.

The phrase "a handful" is also idiomatic, so you can also use it as such: "He is a handful", which simply means that some person is troublesome in some way.

(Source: My intuition as a native speaker of English and a masters in applied linguistics)

Answer 3

Don't be confused by the fact that handful is a singular noun. You should use a plural verb.

There are many cases like this. Consider:

There are a handful of apples.
There are a pack of wolves hunting us.
There are a few people who believe my story.
A group of people are talking about what happened.

In all these cases you can see a singular noun preceded (or followed by) a plural verb. It's because the noun is not the subject of the sentence. Think of them like undefined numbers instead. Like this:

There are five people in the lobby. = There are a few people in the lobby.

EDIT: Adding another example:

The plot for The Grey (2012) reads:

In Alaska, an oil drilling team struggle to survive after a plane crash strands them in the wild. Hunting the humans are a pack of wolves who see them as intruders.

Answer 4

Handful is a small, undefined number or quantity. When number is preceded by "a" it is plural and takes a plural verb.

There are a handful of people.

Answer 5

There is a handful of people. Sounds best.