grammaticality - Is it correct to say "There's many a ..."?



Today on GUARDIAN life&style is this teaser:



There's many a garden outbuilding crying out for a makeover.



I'm wondering if this sentence is correct. I think there either should many be deleted (i.e. There is a garden outbuilding) or is should be are, the a should be dropped and an s should be added to verb outbuilding (i.e. There are many garden outbuildings).


Or does the sentence make sense in any way I don't recognize?



Answer



Yes, it is correct. It's a phrase that is combined with a singular noun. From http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/many:



many a: a large number of



Many a good man has been destroyed by booze
John and I have talked about it many a time




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