English Grammar Lesson : Difference Between "A Number Of" AND "The Number Of"

What's the Difference Between "A Number Of" and "The Number Of"? A few weeks ago, Rachna read through a pile of comments debating over the usage of Grammar in the article posted on the blog. The sentence posted in the article : "Over the past few years, there have been a growing number of both peaceful and violent protests." Readers were confused and wanted to know if "...there have been a growing number of..." was correct. Shouldn't it be "...there has been a growing number of..."? This is a question that commonly confuses many ESL students! The problem is that the subject-verb agreement is different for the expressions "a number of" and "the number of." In this lesson Rachna explains what should be the correct sentence - After watching the video, I hope that clears things up for you! I hope that the number of questions they have about these expressions is now zero.