grammatical number - There is / There are


I believe it well established that the choice of whether to use "There is" or "There are" with the phrase "a lot of" depends on the following word. For example, you would say:



  1. There is a lot of wine.

  2. There are a lot of cars.


What is the right form to use for a pair of, a bunch of, a group of, etc.?




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