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Hena Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

There were or was?

"There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England." (C. Dickens)

Who am I to question Dickens... I just want to understand why I am inclined to say "there was" instead of were.

Thanks in advance,

Hena Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

You are inclined to say was because you are imaging the king and queen one at a time as you read. Dickens has the whole picture as he writes. Either form is OK.

— Mister Micawber

  • You are inclined to say was because you are imaging the king and queen one at a time as you read.
  • Dickens has the whole picture as he writes.
  • Either form is OK.
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11 Answers
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You are inclined to say was because you are imaging the king and queen one at a time as you read. Dickens has the whole picture as he writes. Either form is OK.
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Hena
"There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England." (C. Dickens)

Who am I to question Dickens... I just want to understand why I am inclined to say "there was" instead of were.

Thanks in advance,

Hena
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When two singular subjects are joined by and, the verb is normally plural.

Alice and Bob are going to be late.

Swan, Practical English Usage, singular and plural, coordinated subjects, p. 509
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According to one of my books on English usage, it should be "There was a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England." This is a BrE usage rule. In AmE, either 'was' and 'were' can be used.

Please note that this rule applies when the sentence starts with There.
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Dickens and Swan are British enough to meEmotion: smile

Also:

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Such quick replies! Thank you all. I [L] EF. Mister Micawber; that makes a lot of sense indeed! Thanks a lot...

Best wishes for the weekend,

Hena
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Yoong Liat
According to one of my books on English usage, it should be "There was a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England." This is a BrE usage rule. In AmE, either 'was' and 'were' can be used.

Please note that this rule applies when the sentence starts with There.

It i
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My own instinct in BrE is to say "there was a pen and two pencils" or "there were two pencils and a pen", so it's governed by the first noun. I don't know how to justify it logically, but it seems to be the usage. Of course this applies only to the "there..." construction, as Yoong Liat says.
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There were two pens and (there was) one pencil.

There was one pen and (there were) two pencils

Ellipted bracket contents, IMO.
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InchoateknowledgeThere were two pens and (there was) one pencil.

There was one pen and (there were) two pencils

Ellipted bracket contents, IMO.
I'm inclined to agree with you and J Lewis. It looks like Ellipsis to me.

Although, much as I want to disagree with Marius Hancu, if you were to break this sentence down and replace word
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