There is / there are

There is / there are

“There” is a kind of pronoun used to show something you know exists.

Compare these two sentences:

- “A fly is in my soup.”

- “There is a fly in my soup!”

The first sentence is factual and impersonal. The fly is the subject, and the soup is the object. In the second sentence the object is “a fly in my soup”, so the subject is “There”. “There” functions as a kind of dummy subject that represents a more personal perspective, rather than a factual statement.

Especially in spoken English we usually use the contraction “there’s”, rather than “there is”.

Konuşma dilinde genelde “there’s” kullanılır..

Here are the forms of “there” in the Simple Present.

Statements There’s a tree in my garden. There are books on the desk. Negatives There isn’t a computer in my bedroom. There aren’t any cinemas here.

Questions Is there a restaurant here? Yes, there is. / No, there isn’t

There is usually subject-verb agreement when using there is/there are. For example:

- There are ten students in my class.

- There is ten students in my class.

Sometimes however we can use “there is” with compound subjects, for example:

There’s a bank and a post office near my house.

EXAMPLES:

-Are there cities on the moon?

No, there aren’t.

-Is there an elephant in this room?

No, there isn’t. / No there’s not.

-In the forest there are many trees and plants. There are insects, birds and other animals. There’s clean air and clean water.

-Is there a chair in this room?

Yes, there is.

-How many people are there in the world?

There are five billion people.

-Are there fish in the sea?

Yes, there are.

-Is there a library in your town?

Yes, there are two.

-Are there any hotels in your town?

No, there aren’t any.

-How many restaurants are there in New York City?

Oh, there are about 50,000.