We use there is and there are to say that something exists.
We use there is for singular and there are for the plural.
Positive Sentences
There is and there are examples.
- There is one table in the classroom.
- There are ten chairs in the classroom.
- There is a spider in the bath.
- There are many people at the seashore.
Contractions
The contraction of “there is” is there’s.
Example
- There’s a good song on the radio.
- There’s only one toy left in the box.
You cannot contract there are.
- There are two cats on the roof.
- There are four rooms in this house.
Negative Sentences
The negative is formed by putting not after is or are.
Examples
- There is not a horse in the field.
- There are not eight children in the school.
- There is not a tree in the garden.
- There are not two elephants in the zoo.
The negative contractions are,
There’s not = There isn’t
There are not = There aren’t
There are with “any”
Then we want to indicate that a zero quantity of something exists we use there aren’t any.
- There aren’t any people at the party.
- There aren’t any trees in my street.
We also use this structure with uncountable nouns.
- There isn’t any water in the swimming pool.
- There isn’t any sugar in my coffee.
Questions
To form a question we place is/are in front of there. Again we use any with plural questions or those which use uncountable nouns.
We also use there is / are in short answers.
- Is there a dog in the supermarket? No, there isn’t.
- Are there any children in the park? Yes, there are.
- Is there a security guard in the shop? Yes, there is.
- Are there any polar bears in Antarctica? No, there aren’t.
- Is there any ice-cream in the freezer? Yes, there is.
How many with are there
If we want to find out the number of objects that exist we use How many in the following form.
How many + plural noun + are there (+complement).
- How many dogs are there in the park?
- How many students are there in your class?
- How many countries are there in South America?
- How many Star Wars films are there?
