English Grammar Questions
Q9: Using "There is" and "There are"
Back to GRAMMAR QUESTIONS:
|
|
|
|
Back to GRAMMAR QUESTIONS: |
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| From A.
A. A. CA - USA " ... my grammar question about the form of the verb 'to be', singular or plural, when it follows 'there' in a sentence ..." " ... well, it is not that I didn't know the answer to the question; I just wanted to have an expert opinion on this subtle grammar topic, because I couldn't find any grammar books treating this subject inside out, meaning, I couldn't discover examples of uncountable nouns following 'there' in a sentence. The good news is, I found few authoritative grammar sources and I am happy because it turned out that I was right about this grammar topic all along. Here is the answer: A The following is from 'GRAMMAR TROUBLESPOTS' by Ann Raimes, 'A magnificent guide for student writers to avoid grammar pitfalls'. Agreement with 'there' in subject position: when you begin a sentence with there is/are, make the verb agree with the noun that follows the verb. There is a glass of milk on the table. There are six bottles of wine on the shelf. B Even when there is more than one noun following the verb, make the verb agree with the first noun only. There were some napkins on the table and a vase of flowers. There was a vase of flowers and some napkins on the table. There is some change in my wallet and some money in my pocket. There is a box of books and three suitcases full of letters in the basement. There is water and some bread. There is one countable and one uncountable noun in this sentence. There is some water and five bananas. There is one apple and five bananas. There are five bananas and one apple. C According to the strictest rules of standard English[sic], or rather, the old fashioned 'Traditional English Grammar' you can also use 'are' following 'there' in a sentence: There are a pen, a book, and some paper on the table. D From 'The New Fowler's Modern English Usage' by Bruchfield: There were/are a table and some chairs in the room. (Transparently[sic] plural subjects.) There was a plain deal table in the room and some wicker armchairs which Jorgensen had produced from somewhere in the depths of the ship. (There was, because of the proximity of a plain deal table, of elaboration and [here is a difficult to understand word] of the second subject. E As you can see, even English Language Authorities, either British or American, [stunning!] are of different opinions on this subtle grammatical point. What I am trying to say here is that, it would be morally wrong and unfair of you to give me an answer that has even a hint of harshness and meanness ..." The points above marked as A, B, C, D, and E in bold red are our additions, because the question is too complex: in this way, we can answer each topic one at a time. A Before anything else, the expression "there is" belongs to the category of "phrasal verbs" (or verb equivalents). There are very many phrasal verbs, because this grammatical category includes verbs with adverbial particle, verbs with preposition, verbs with adverbial particle and preposition, and many verbal constructions of the type "to be going to", "to have to", "to be about to" etc. Specific to all phrasal verbs is, the component words lose their particular meanings, and they are NEVER analyzed for grammatical functionality because they do not have any. [Exactly the same thing happens with phrases working as nouns (noun equivalents), as adjectives (adjective equivalents), as adverbs (adverb equivalents) or as interjections.] One phrasal verb works ONLY AS ONE VERB/PREDICATE. Therefore, although we can read, and we write "there" in the phrasal verb "there is", or "there are", there is absolutely NO "THERE" IN THEIR MEANINGS. "There" from "there is" does not exist! The meanings of the expressions "there is" and "there are" are: A1. "it exists" A2. "they exist" Note that there is no "there" in any of the above two meanings. Also, you should note that "it" and "they" are both used impersonal, and they form grammatical subjects in meaning--or implicitly. To consider that "there" from verbal expression "there is" is in "subject position" is a gross grammatical error. Again, "there is" is just one verb-equivalent: one indivisible unit having the meaning of "it exists". Further, the singular form of the verb "there is" becomes "there are" in plural form. Other common forms, though less used, are: "there was", "there were", "there has been", "there have been", "there had been", "there should be", "there would be", "there will be", "there shall be", and even "there be" (old form subjunctive). The verb "there is" has no continuous aspect, and no passive voice--it is modal defective. The verb "there is" needs to agree with its subject in number, according to the subject-predicate agreement rules. Note that the subject-predicate agreement is always done according to the meaning of the subject. In our particular case (the verb "there is") grammatical subject is either "it" in singular, or "they" in plural: both are implicit. Further, the pronouns "it" and "they" replace their antecedents, nouns following "there is", which are in fact logical subjects. Because the subject-predicate agreement is always done IN MEANING, the nouns following "there is" have to agree in number (and in person) with their (impersonal) pronouns, first, and then with the verb/predicate "there is". In Logically Structured English Grammar (LSEG) the subject-predicate agreement is presented in subchapter S1.4. The readers could discover there a nice set of rules dealing with this topic--about twenty--few exceptions, and tens of examples. B Few situations are remarkable when we have more than one noun following the verb "there is": B1. we could have a list of nouns related in meaning (similar) ; B2. we could have alternative nouns introduced/preceded by conjunction "or"; B3. we could have nouns unrelated in meaning (dissimilar) and introduced by conjunction "and". Examples of each instance above (and of many others) are nicely presented in LSEG, including means to avoid ambiguous or "forced" expressions. For example, according to LSEG the sentence, "There is some water and three bananas on the table," should be rephrased, "There is some water, and there are three bananas on the table." The rule is: when the meaning of the compound subject is ambiguous/unclear/unrelated the predicate doubles, thus forming two, or more sentences. C The example presented at point C in the question corresponds to instance B1 above, and it is correct, grammatically. The interpretation of the grammatical rules, however, is childish. D Regardless of where those examples come from, they are childish and insufficiently motivated grammatically; this is, morphologically and syntactically. "Someone said so" IS NOT a valid grammatical reason. Grammar is an exact science working with many rules (and with few exceptions to the rules). People either know English grammar, or they simply "talk that way". E We all make mistakes, though we should learn something good from each one. The question presented above comes from a very nice person who loves English grammar. It just happened he didn't read LSEG before he wrote his question to us. The good news is, our friend bought LSEG, and we have no doubts he is going to ask us many more questions, way more interesting and to the point. Thank you, A. A. A. To end this, the English language does not belong to particular people/countries. Anybody on our planet (and not only) is free to learn English as much as he (or she) wants. We do have the means; the rest is up to you. | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
LINKS
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
