There's

Question

There's a lot of competition going on and I personally feel that I compete with myself. I don't want to compete with anyone else. I am really open-minded and I can bat at any number.
'Never thought of this in my dreams' - Chahar on his 6 for 7 - Cricbuzz
Please explain the use of "there is" in "There's a lot of....".
I always find it hard to use this construction in my own writing and speech.

BillJ · Accepted Answer

There's a lot of competition going on and I personally feel that I compete with myself.

This is the dummy pronoun "there" which is used as the subject of existential clauses, i.e. those that express propositions concerning existence. Here, the clause expresses the existence of a lot of competition going on.

But "there is" is not a constituent (a unit), but two distinct constituents, i.e. subject and verb, respectively.

A similar meaning could be expressed by the non-existential "A lot of competition is going on".

Some other examples:

"There is always a lot of bad behaviour in the downtown bars."

"There's no milk in the fridge".

"There is a nurse present".

There's

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions