a lot of
A large number or amount of (people or things). There are still a lot of issues plaguing the operating system that we need to figure out before it's released next month. We did a lot of promotion for our show, but not a lot of people showed up.
lot of someone or something
and lots of people or thingsa large number of people or things; much of something. I got a lot of presents for my birthday. I ate lots of cookies after dinner.