We use ‘There‘ to show that something exists or does not exist. ‘There‘ is a kind of preparatory subject and we put the real subject after the verb in the sentence.

There is with singular nouns

There are with plural nouns.

Is there with singular nouns in question form

Are there with singular nouns in question form

You can use ‘There‘ in this way particularly with subjects that have:

• Indefinite articles like a and an;
• No article;
• Indefinite determiners like some, any, no;
• Indefinite pronouns like somebody, nothing

‘There is‘ with Indefinite articles ‘a/an’

• There is a whiteboard in my classroom.
• There is a phone book on her desk.
• There is a quilt on my bed.
• There is a new keyboard in the box.
• There is an elephant in the field.
• There is an egg in the refrigerator.

‘There is‘ and ‘There are‘ with no articles

• There are bullets in the gun.
• There is enough flour for this recipe.
• There is dirt on my face.
• There are germs on my hands.
• There are fingerprints on the gun.

‘There is‘ and ‘There are‘ with indefinite determiners

• There are many traffic lights in the city.
• There are many people online.
• There are some people outside.
• There is no sense in making him angry.

‘There is‘ with Indefinite pronouns

• There’s something worrying me.
• There is nobody in the playground.
• There is someone outside.
• There is nothing on the wall.

‘Is There‘ and ‘Are There‘ question forms

• Is there anybody at home?
• Is there a traffic jam on the highway.
• Are there many signs on the road.
• Are there many marbles in the jar?
• Is there a mouse in the house?
• Is there a fireman at the door?
• Are there clean socks in the drawer?

‘There is not’ and ‘There are not‘ negative form

• 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.

‘There’ with all tenses of ‘be’

‘There’ can be used with all tenses of be. (see examples)

• There was a magnifying glass on the table. (Simple Past)
• There has never been anybody like you. (present Perfect)
• There will be snow later in the week. (Simple future)

Using ‘There‘ with modal verbs

• There must be something we can do.
• There might be a problem with Tom.
• There should be an easier way to do that.