“There is” or “there are”? Matching Verbs in English

In today's lesson, we're going to look at a basic lesson in matching verbs to subjects.

We're going to look at some pronouns, and we're going to look at the preparatory subject

there.

Okay?

I'll get to...

I'll explain what that means.

So, generally speaking, you've learned from basic classes, your verb will match the subject.

Right?

If the subject is singular, the verb will be singular.

If the subject is a verb...

If the subject is plural, the verb will be plural.

Right?

Now, here we have a little bit of a problem.

Why?

Because the word "there" is not actually the subject of the sentence.

This is called a preparatory subject.

Preparatory.

Preparatory subject, which means that it's taking the place of the subject which comes

later, which it comes after the verb.

The reason we do that is because to begin the sentence with a long subject doesn't feel

comfortable.

So, we move it to the end of the sentence, and we put "there" in its place.

So, generally, now what you have to understand is that when you use "there is" or "there

are", the verb matches the noun after it, which is the subject.

Right?

So, there is a person, there is a man in the room.

There are people in the room.

So, "a man" is singular, "is".

"People", plural, "are".

Right?

But then you have a sentence like this.

There is or are a chair, a table, and a TV in the room.

So, a lot of people get confused.

They're not sure.

Do I match it to the chair, which is singular, or do I match it to one, two, three things

which create a compound subject and is plural?

Now, if you hear native speakers speaking, most of them will use "is".

There is a chair, a table, and a TV in the room.

It just sounds more natural.

But technically, the correct verb is "are", because a chair, a table, and a TV are in

the room.

This is your subject.

It is a plural subject.

You're going to need the plural verb to complete the sentence.

So, one way to test if your...

If your verb should be a singular or a plural is to rearrange the sentence.

Put the actual subject before the verb, and then match the verb to the subject.

Don't match it to "there" because "there" is nothing.

Okay?

So now, speaking of rearranging, the best way to not have any confusion or to not feel

awkward is not to use sentences beginning with "there is", "there are".

Most writers and editors will tell you that sentences beginning with "there is", "there

are" are weak sentences.

They're not powerful sentences, and you should try to avoid them.

So, a chair, a table, and a TV are in the room.

Okay?

So, I walked into the room and I saw a TV, a chair, and a... sorry, a chair, a table,

and a TV.

Make a new sentence.

Put the thing...

The items as objects.

Put something else as a subject.

Make sure your verbs match or agree, and then you'll avoid all the awkwardness.

Now, another...

Before I go on, let me give you another example.

There's all types of people.

There are all types of people.

Now, "all types of people", this is a plural, and you should say "there are all types of

people".

But, people, native speakers, don't like the "rr", "there are", "there are", right?

It's a little bit uncomfortable for the tongue to say, plus it's two syllables.

Two syllables.

"There's" is one syllable and easier to say, easier for the mouth.

So, many, if not most, native English speakers will say "there's all types of people".

There's five cars in the parking lot.

There's a...

There's a few people at the bar, whatever the situation is.

Even though it's not correct, people will say this more often than not.

Okay?

So now, what do you have to understand about English?

There's correct English, and then there is commonly used English.

But not always the same, okay?

Native speakers basically make grammar mistakes all the time, and it's acceptable.

It's accepted because so many people do it.

Now, another thing to keep in mind.

Spoken English, written English.

If you say "there's all types of people", if you say "there's five cars in the parking

lot", nobody will even think twice, the conversation will continue.

In writing, it's a problem.

In writing, you can confuse the reader because, remember, when you're speaking to someone,

you're using your hands, you're using your face to basically convey some meaning.

In writing, there's only the reader and the words.

If you make grammar mistakes in written English, you can make it very difficult for the reader.

When you're writing, be correct.

When you're speaking, be comfortable.

That's the key point here.

And in writing and speaking, if you're not comfortable, if you're not sure, change the

sentence around.

Make a new sentence, but keep the same meaning.

Now, I want to look at some of these pronouns because sometimes these give people a little

bit of a confusion, right?

Each or every person.

Each and every will always take a singular.

Each person means each individual.

Every basically means all the individual people, so we're still talking about every person

in the group.

We're not talking about the whole group as one group.

We're talking about all the individuals in the group, and that's why we're using the

singular verb.

Okay, so each and every, we're talking about each individual in the group.

Because we're talking about each individual, we're using "is".

On the other hand, when we look at "all", we're still looking at all the individuals,

but we're looking at them as a collection.

So now, there's not one person individually, there are many people in the group, and we're

looking at all of them, and so we're using the plural verb, "are".

All the people are welcome to join the conversation, okay?

On the other hand, "the whole".

Now, "the whole", this is not a pronoun.

Your noun, your subject is going to be here, the whole group.

So now we're taking all the people, but we're not looking at the people, we're looking at

the collection, the group, the one unit, even though it has all the little different pieces

in it.

So, the whole group is welcome to join us for lunch, okay?

So, "whole" singular, "all" plural, okay?

So, remember that.

Then, we have "none".

"None" basically means no one single person, or no one single thing.

Now, generally, we use it with "none of", okay?

None of the students, for example.

So, similarly to "there is" or "there are", there is the correct way, and then there's

the common way.

In correct English, "none" is always singular, especially when you have "of", okay?

None of the students is.

Not any single student, we're talking about the individuals, is excused or free to go.

But, again, in informal speech, you will hear many people say, "None of the students are

free to go."

Very common, technically not correct.

"Is" is correct, but in spoken English, if you use "are", okay.

In written English, you should try to use "is" be correct.

Now, sometimes you'll see "none" without the "of", so I invite, I ask some of my staff

to volunteer for this project, but none are interested.

Again, most people will use "are" because we're talking about a few people, but technically

"none is interested" is the correct way.

Now, spoken English, say whichever one you feel comfortable with.

If you're going to be taking a university entrance exam, like the SAT or the GMAT, okay,

these have a grammar section.

Each of these exams has a grammar section in it.

On this grammar section, you have to be correct.

They're testing your knowledge of correct grammar.

Spoken English, whatever you want.

When you need to be correct, be singular for "none", okay?

And same with "neither" or "either", "neither is" or "are", again, spoken English, "neither",

I asked the two of them to come to the party, but "neither is available", "neither are available",

"neither is coming", "neither are coming".

And I know that only one of them will come, but I don't know if it's either her or him

that is going to come.

Singular.

Now, these, because it's one or the other, singular or singular, "correct is", commonly

used or acceptable, "are", "neither of us is coming", "neither of us are coming", again,

although it's a plural, "correct" is "is", commonly acceptable is "are".

Your choice.

Written English, be correct, "is" for this pronoun.

We're going to look at a few of the indefinite pronouns, different pronouns, and see how

they work as well.

Okay, so now we have these other pronouns, these are called indefinite pronouns, "everybody"

or "everyone", "somebody", "anybody", "nobody".

Whenever you're using these as subjects of your sentence, they're always going to be

singular.

"Always", "everybody is", "never", "everybody are".

Now, if you want to say "are", you say "all the people", right?

Then you have to split it up and use the word, the pronoun "all", but as soon as you're using

it as one word, "everybody", "somebody", "anybody", "nobody", you're using "is".

On the other hand, "something is", we don't know what it is, it's an indefinite pronoun,

but it's one.

"Something is".

If you want to use plural, don't forget two words, "some things are".

It's no longer a pronoun.

Now you have a qualifier and you have an actual noun subject, okay?

"Everything is", "all things are".

Two words, this is a noun, this is a pronoun, "is", "are".

"Anything" and "nothing is", okay?

These you can't split up, and they're always going to be singular.

So, when you have indefinite pronouns, singular.

When you want plural, split them up into nouns and qualifiers, okay?

That's basically it.

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comments section.

There is also a quiz on the site where you can test your understanding of the verb matching

with these pronouns.

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