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GLOW: Grammar Lessons On the Web For the exclusive use of employees of the U.S. Department of State--by Tillyer Associates |
There is/There are
The word "there" has several meanings in English.
| Mike likes Florida. It's
warm and sunny there. [there is an
adverb] There's a student in my class from Pakistan. [there is a kind of pronoun] |
These are two meanings of there. This lesson is about the second meaning. We use there to start a sentence. It means that something or someone exists.
| There
is a post office on 52nd
Street. There's a package for you near the door, Patricia. There's a diswasher in the kitchen of our new house. There are several South American actors in the new film. Be careful! There are bones in this fish. There are three large trees behind our new house. |
The introductory there is followed by a form of the verb to be. (There is is usually contracted as there's. There are is never contracted.) The subject (in green in the examples above) of the sentence follows the verb in this kind of sentence.
Note that the subjects in the first three examples above are singular, but in the second group of sentences they are plural. The form of the verb to be must agree with the subject:
| Incorrect: There are a
new rule in our department. Correct: There is a new rule in our department. [or] There are some new rules in our department. |
Remember that uncountable nouns (information, water, equipment) always have a singular verb:
| There is lots of
information about visas in the State Department web site. There is water in the glass. There is new computer equipment in our office. |
For more information about uncountable (noncount nouns) see: http://tillyer.net/GLOW/fsi013.htm
Note: There are two ways to express the negative with there is and there are.
| There isn't any water in the glass | There is no water in the glass. |
| There aren't any computers in the office | There are no computers in the office. |
Questions with There is/There are
To create questions that can be answered yes or no, you must reverse There is/There are.
There is a problem with his car. < > Is there a problem with his car? No, there isn't. There are some new employees at the embassy. < > Are there any new employees at the embassy? Yes, there are. |
Note: The short answer to a yes/no question is yes or no plus there is or there isn't, or there are or there aren't.
| Yes, there is. Yes, there are. |
No, there isn't. No, there aren't. |
Make sure that the subject agrees with the verb:
| Is there a fax machine in your office? Are there computers in the health unit? |
To create questions about quanity or number with how much or how many, use this form:
| How much coffee is there in the pot? >> There is a lot./There are about three
cups. How much equipment is there to carry? >> There isn't much to carry. How many applicants are there in the waiting room? >> There are six. How many cars are there in the motor pool? >> There are 26. |
There is/there are has the meaning of to exist. However, it is important to remember that Americans very rarely use the word exist, they only use there is/there are to express this meaning.
Past tense
This same form is used in the past tense. Use the past tense of to be.
| There was a major
civil war in the United States from 1860 to 1864. There were more than half a million people killed in that war. |