"there was a few of us" or "there were a few of us"

[M. Robert Gibson]

Which is correct?

I think I'm correct in thinking that the rule is a collective noun is treated as singular so takes a 'was'
- There was a gang of monkeys.
- There was a collection of frogs.

But
- There was a few of us
just sounds wrong

Now that I've written it down, perhaps my assumption that 'few' is a collective is wrong

 

[Draoighir]

Hmm... I would say there were a few of us, but I'm not a native English speaker.

I wouldn't say "a gang" and "a few" seem like in the same category.

"Only a few of us left." - "There were only a few of us left." sounds more "natural" to me.

 

[Wayne Mack]

I consider 'few' to be more similar to 'some' (I am sure someone can chime in with the correct part of speech for this) or perhaps a numerical qualifier and would take a plural.

Some are red.
Few are striped.
Three are both.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Few is not a collective. It's an adjective indicating a quantity.
Therefor 'were'

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I’d say were but take that with a large grain of mountain

 

[Christine Wheelwright]

When I come across something like this - something that feels wrong even if it is probably correct - I just avoid it completely.

For example:

"I was there with a few others" instead of "There were a few of us there"

 

[farntfar]

I would suggest that a few is a number rather than a group, much like a dozen.
therefore
"A few of us were going to the pub and a group of them was right behind us."

 

[tinkerdan]

Few is a quantifier used with plural countable nouns.
Without the article “a,” few emphasizes a small number of something.
Adding the article removes the emphasis—a few means some.
The same rule applies to little, which is used with singular uncountable nouns.
------------------------------------------------
Quoted from Few, a Few—What’s the Difference?
Personally
I wouldn't use a few
but would say.
there were few of us.

The problem is that using the a makes the mind drift to singular that isn't quite there.
Though it could be 1 or even none it reads best as:
There were a few of us.
Mostly because us seems to exclude none or one(Unless you are a god and then you can be three but only one).

Also let's say if you were being exclusive as in...
There can be only one.
not
There can be only few.
There was one makes more sense then there was few; which would really be there were few, although there was few might bend the mind into realizing there was one(so why didn't you just say there was one).

Also
You could say this statement.
There were two of us but there was only one of us could do this.
not so much
There were two of us but there was few of us that could do this(because there is no smaller amount with a one to one comparison unless none of us could).
You might get away with
There were two of us but there was only a few of us that could do this.
since it would be similar to
There were two of us but there was only some of us that could do this.
Which is a sort of sly way of saying(only I could) or maybe one of us can't and pointing the finger at the other person.
Still, none of these choices would be for clarity as much as for some obtuse reference.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

Thanks guys.
I think I sort of already knew it should be 'were' , it's just a bit of doubt had crept in.
I've recently found some old school exercise books in which some of my essays used 'there was a few of us' which the teacher had not corrected for grammar, and yet had corrected other stuff, hence the doubt and this question.

Now, to muddy the waters, what about contractions?
"There's a few of us" versus "There're a few of us"
Obviously, after what's been posted here, the second version is the correct one, but I do see the first one used all over the place where it is used as
"There is a few of us" as opposed to "There are a few of us"

 

[Luiglin]

The problem is that 'was' has replaced 'were' in verbal communication and now in digital communication. Same as with your second example @M. Robert Gibson, the second is correct but 'there's' is easier to say or you wouldn't contract it while speaking, and say "there are". As such, you start to doubt yourself... or I do anyway.

I always use 'was' in draft mode as the story is coming out of my head but make a conscious effort to run a search to change it after.

 

[farntfar]

Again. I would say there're a few of us, but there's a group of us.

 

[Wayne Mack]

Thanks guys.
I think I sort of already knew it should be 'were' , it's just a bit of doubt had crept in.
I've recently found some old school exercise books in which some of my essays used 'there was a few of us' which the teacher had not corrected for grammar, and yet had corrected other stuff, hence the doubt and this question.

Now, to muddy the waters, what about contractions?
"There's a few of us" versus "There're a few of us"
Obviously, after what's been posted here, the second version is the correct one, but I do see the first one used all over the place where it is used as
"There is a few of us" as opposed to "There are a few of us"

I think this demonstrates one of the differences between formal language and informal (and use of contractions places the usage in the informal camp). From a pragmatic side, I find "there're" as almost impossible to pronounce and I think the same is true of almost every contraction of "are." If I try to express "there + to be" as a contraction, it is always going to come out as "there's."

Going a little off track, though, are there any past tense contractions of pronoun + to be? I can only think of present and future tense examples.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I think this demonstrates one of the differences between formal language and informal (and use of contractions places the usage in the informal camp). From a pragmatic side, I find "there're" as almost impossible to pronounce and I think the same is true of almost every contraction of "are." If I try to express "there + to be" as a contraction, it is always going to come out as "there's."

Going a little off track, though, are there any past tense contractions of pronoun + to be? I can only think of present and future tense examples.

'twere and 'twas?