Subject-Verb Agreement with There is, There are

There's a bird in the sky.
There are two birds in the sky.

The structure of this expression is very simple. We use "There is" with singular subjects and we use "There are" with plural subjects:

  • [There is] + [singular subject]
  • [There are] + [plural subject]

Look at these examples, with positive, negative and question:

   singular
subject*		 
+There is someoneat the door
There'sstill aproblem 
There'snomilkin the fridge
-There isn'tanymoneyin this account
?Is thereaproblem? 
   plural
subject		 
+There aretwoboysin the garden**
There arealways twosidesto an argument
There aremanyquestionsto answer
-There aren'tanycarsin the street
?Are thereanyproblems? 

*Note that singular includes uncountable nouns (uncountable nouns are always singular)

There is with singular subject series

We use "there is" before a series of singular subjects. Look at these examples:

There isfruit, bread and wineon the table
There'sa cup of coffee and some sugaron the table
There'sa red car and a blue caroutside

Useful Tip

The phrase "fruit, bread and wine" refers to three things, so why do we use the singular "There is"? The reason is ellipsis (where we cut out words that are repeated). So...

There is fruit, bread and wine on the table

 really means

There is fruit, there is bread and there is wine on the table


There is/are with singular/plural subject series

Sometimes we have a series of subjects that are mixed - singular and plural. In informal speech, the verb then agrees with the nearest subject. Look at these examples:

  • There's a girl and two boys outside
  • There are two boys and a girl outside**
  • There's some wine and two apples on the table
  • There are two apples and some wine on the table

Note that this is common usage in informal speech only. It is grammatically incorrect and you should not use it in formal writing or formal speech.

There is/are + a lot of/lots of

Do we use "there is" or "there are" with a lot of/lots of? It depends on the noun: if it is singular we use "there is"; if it is plural we use "there are". Look at these examples:

  plural
(countable)		 
There area lot of
lots of		dogsin the street**
  singular(uncountable) 
There isa lot of
lots of		snowoutside
There's
Useful Tip

**Note that in informal language, we often use "there's" (but NOT "there is") with a plural subject:

  • There's two boys in the garden
  • There's two boys and a girl outside
  • There's a lot of dogs in the street

Remember, this is informal and you should not use it for formal language.