Although ‘There is’ and ‘There are’ is an A1 elementary piece of grammar, the noun phrases as complements are quite difficult for English learners. The following sentences are corrected sentences from Thai students: There are many religions in Thailand. There are many different cultures and traditions. There are many fresh plants and beautiful flowers. See uncorrected versions here. Point 1 in the category of VERBS: there is/are + singular noun …
In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 15 in the category of VERBS is defined: ‘there is’ and ‘there are’ + ‘a lot of’ + plural noun iWeb doesn’t allow for longer than 5 token searches: _EX _VB a lot of 1 THERE ARE A LOT OF 145235 2 THERE IS A LOT OF 69785 …
Point 35 in the category of Verbs is defined as: ‘there’ with a range of modal verbs + ‘be’ + complement. A search in iWeb for: there_E _VM be * 1 THERE WILL BE A 135620 2 THERE WILL BE NO 66994 3 THERE MAY BE A 43753 4 THERE WOULD BE NO 37614 5 …
Point 41 in the category of VERBS is defined as: NEGATIVE: ‘There’ + ‘be’ + ‘n’t’ with countable and uncountable nouns. A search in iWeb for: there_E _VB _XX * * 1 THERE ‘S NOT A LOT 6543 2 THERE IS NOT A LOT 4009 3 THERE IS NOT A SINGLE 3817 4 THERE IS …
Point 33 in QUESTIONS/tags is defined as: affirmative and negative forms of question tags with ‘there’ + ‘be’ An iWeb search for: , _VB there ? 1 , IS THERE ? 1657 2 , ARE THERE ? 174 3 , WAS THERE ? 118 , _VB _XX there ? 1 , IS N’T THERE ? …
C2 point 64 in DETERMINERS/demonstratives is defined as: ‘this’ with nouns and noun phrases in a narrative to create a sense of immediacy. All the examples in the English Grammar Profile follow the pattern ‘There + BE + this + noun phrase’ A search on iWeb for: there_EX _VB this _N 1 THERE ‘S THIS …
There’s this + noun phrase (immediacy in a narrative) Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 50 in the category of VERBS is defined as: ‘there’ with other verbs with modal meaning + ‘be’ + complement. The EGP modality examples contain: ‘need, have, is going + to’ However, in the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘there needs to be’ is listed at C2 with the following example: …
In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 192 in the category of MODALITY is defined as: ‘THERE OUGHT TO BE” to talk about desired states of affairs. An iWeb search for: there ought to be* * * 1 THERE OUGHT TO BE A WAY TO 66 2 THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW AGAINST 33 …
Here are my top 10 vocabulary items I would teach alongside “very few” to an upper-intermediate class.
