THERE + is | are | was | were

A1, A2, complements, NOUNS, phrases, plural, singular, VERBS

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:

See uncorrected versions here.

Here are two A1 points in the English Grammar Profile: point 1 in the category of  VERBS:

there is/are + singular noun phrase as complement.

Point 8:

‘there are’ + plural noun phrase as complement.

In the Pearson’s Toolkit at A1:

‘there’ + ‘be’ to express presence/absence.

Note that there is no entry in either resource for the use of the past forms of BE = was/were.  So we believe it should probably be considered as A2.  For example:

There was a time when I was everything to you.

Try our ‘there is’ and ‘there are’ grammar exercise:

 

QUIZ START

An iWeb search for:

there_EX * * * *

1 THERE ARE A LOT OF 145169
2 THERE ARE A NUMBER OF 126916
3 THERE IS A LOT OF 69717
4 THERE’S A LOT OF 63412
5 THERE IS NO NEED TO 50898
6 THERE ARE A COUPLE OF 34803
7 THERE IS NO WAY TO 34134

There is no way to tell his story

 without telling my own.

listen

8 THERE WAS A LOT OF 29099

So I went into your office

 to get your jacket to take to the cleaners 

and there was a lot of money in that pocket.

listen

9 THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT 25712
10 THERE’S NO NEED TO 25443 (note that “is” can be contracted)

There’s no need to be afraid.

listen

11 THERE ARE A VARIETY OF 25146
12 THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF 24731
13 THERE IS NO SUCH THING 24183
14 THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO 22941
15 THERE ARE A FEW THINGS 21625
16 THERE WERE A LOT OF 21185
17 THERE IS NO REASON TO 19308
18 THERE SEEMS TO BE A 19185 (other verbs are possible in this structure)

There seems to be a problem with my system.

listen

19 THERE ARE QUITE A FEW 18178
20 THERE IS NO NEED FOR 18038
21 THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH 16683
22 THERE IS A WAY TO 15540
23 THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO 15189
24 THERE’S A GOOD CHANCE 13421
25 THERE WAS A TIME WHEN 13295
26 THERE’S NO WAY TO 13229
27 THERE’S GOING TO BE 12926
28 THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH 12555
29 THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE 11988
30 THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO 11617
31 THERE WILL ALSO BE A 11564
32 THERE ARE SO MANY DIFFERENT 11125
33 THERE IS MORE THAN ONE 11047
34 THERE ARE A TON OF 11001
35 THERE HAS TO BE A 10820

There has to be a way to fix this.

listen

36 THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 10744
37 THERE ARE PLENTY OF OTHER 10616
38 THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT 10499
39 THERE ARE GOING TO BE 10395
40 THERE IS A NEED FOR 10372
41 THERE ARE ONLY A FEW 10062
42 THERE’S NO REASON TO 10050
43 THERE IS A LOT TO 9794
44 THERE NEEDS TO BE A 9778
45 THERE IS SO MUCH TO 9722
46 THERE WERE A NUMBER OF 9587

There were a number of people

 who wanted to talk to you.

listen

47 THERE HAS BEEN A LOT 9384
48 THERE’S A LOT TO 9383
49 THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF 9367
50 THERE IS A NEED TO 9315
51 THERE ARE , HOWEVER , 9282
52 THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS 9162
53 THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH 8989
54 THERE IS GOING TO BE 8914
55 THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT 8773
56 THERE’S NO DOUBT THAT 8700
57 THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A 8483
58 THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF 8470
59 THERE’S A LOT MORE 8463
60 THERE IS A LACK OF 8303
61 THERE IS NO REASON WHY 8285
62 THERE IS , HOWEVER , 8247
63 THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF 8032
64 THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT TYPES 7932
65 THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF 7855
66 THERE IS NO LIMIT TO 7807
67 THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT 7764
68 THERE’S NO SUCH THING 7585
69 THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF 7475
70 THERE ARE MANY REASONS WHY 7451
71 THERE IS A LOT MORE 7416
72 THERE WILL BE A LOT 7261
73 THERE IS A GREAT DEAL 7177
74 THERE WERE A COUPLE OF 7160
75 THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE 6912
76 THERE SEEMS TO BE NO 6909
77 THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A 6896
78 THERE ARE ALSO A NUMBER 6852
79 THERE IS A BIT OF 6826
80 THERE ARE A BUNCH OF 6770
81 THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS 6731
82 THERE DOESN’T SEEM TO 6684

There doesn’t seem to be anything more to say.

listen

83 THERE ARE A FEW DIFFERENT 6673
84 THERE ARE A FEW WAYS 6628
85 THERE IS A CHANCE THAT 6625
86 THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW 6622
87 THERE IS NO POINT IN 6617
88 THERE IS SUCH A THING 6568
89 THERE’S NOT A LOT 6543
90 THERE ARE A FEW OTHER 6484
91 THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF 6439
92 THERE ARE A TOTAL OF 6428
93 THERE IS SO MUCH MORE 6426
94 THERE ARE SEVERAL TYPES OF 6329
95 THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO 6216
96 THERE IS NO BETTER WAY 6214
97 THERE ARE MANY , MANY 6195
98 THERE’S NO NEED FOR 6194
99 THERE WAS A WAY TO 6129
100 THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF 6122