9

There is / There are

The Perfect House

Focus on Grammar 1
Part VIII, Unit 26
By Ruth Luman, Gabriele Steiner, and BJ Wells
Copyright 2006. Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Our
Our New
New House
House
Honey, I found the
perfect house. You
are going to love it.

Oh, thats great!

Tell me all about it.

Our
Our New
New House
House
Theres
airbig
There
is a
conditioning.
There
are good
backyard.
schools nearby.

Present
Present Singular
Singular
Use there is or theres to state facts about a
person or thing.

There is a big
backyard.

There is air
conditioning.

Present
Present Plural
Plural
Use there are if the noun is plural.

There are a lot

of windows.
There are good
schools nearby.

The
The Perfect
Perfect House
House
There
arent
any
isnt
There
but
theres
aa trees,
There
isnt
a fireplace,
Theres
even
an
extrabut
but atheres
a bigfor my
swimming
pool,
basketball
court.
theres
big
space
bedroom for my mother!
driveway
for my
car.
flat screen
TV.

Are Is
there
Isthere
there
aa in
Hmmm
. . .trees
Great.
swimming
fireplace?
the yard?
pool?

Negative
Negative
To state a negative fact, you can use there
isnt a / an or there arent any.
present singular

There isnt a garage.

present plural

There arent any trees in the

yard.
present singular

There isnt a fence.

present plural

There arent a lot of neighbors.

Contractions
Contractions
Use theres in speaking and informal writing.

Theres a basketball court.

Theres even an extra
bedroom for my mother.

Practice 1

Look at the information about Mrs.

Chans class. Make sentences using
there is, there are and information
about this class.

Mrs. Chans History Class

This Week

Quiz

Students

Homework

Readings

18

very little

many

Example: This week, there isnt a quiz.

This week, there are 18 students.
This week, there is very little homework.
This week, there are many readings.

Questions
Questions
Put is, or are before there to make a
question.

Are
Is there
thereamice
swimming
in the house?
pool?

Short
Short Answers
Answers
Use there in questions and short answers.
Are there any
Is there in
a the
problems
porch?
basement?

No, there
Yes,arent.
there is.

Practice 2
Example: lots of houses
a good school
many children
a highway five years ago
restaurants
problems
cafs five years ago
parks
noise

Ask a partner questions about his

or her neighborhood. Use is there,
are there and short answers.

Are there lots

of houses in No, there
your
arent.
neighborhood?

References
References
Copyright 2006 Pearson Education and its
licensors. All rights reserved.