Q:

'Consists of a lot of' or 'consists lot of'

Which is correct grammar,

Farming consists a lot of manual work.
Farming consists of a lot of manual work.

Also, is is ok to write 'a lot of' instead of 'lot of'?

A:

Farming consists of a lot of manual work.

“Farming consists of manual work. How much manual work? A lot.”
This is the better option, and is something a native speaker would say.

Farming consists a lot of manual work.

“Farming consists of manual work. How much does it consist of manual work? A lot.”
This is slightly awkward, but still correct. It has a slightly different meaning, however: that farming consists mostly of manual work (but there are other kinds of work too).

