is or are
 

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me which form of the verb is needed here and why ?

a) All staff is / are required to complete the questionnaire.
b) There is / are only a bottle of milk, some eggs and butter in the fridge.

Thank you for your help.
I wish you all a happy new year.
Hela

Re: is or are
 

a) Staff is a plural collective noun, like police - so are.

b) There is. The verb after there always agrees with the first noun phrase in the clause, regardless of what comes later. So as a bottle of milk is singular, the verb is singular too.