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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Use of 'there is' and 'there are'

Which sentence is correc, and why?

There is one chair and 3 phones in my office.
There are one chair and 3 phones in my office.
  

Top answer

As far as I know, the verb in such constructions must agree in number with the first noun. In your sentence the first subject is "one chair", which is singular, so the verb must be singular, too: There is one chair and three phones in my office. If you swapped the subjects (so that "three chairs" goes first), the verb would be plural: There are three phones and one chair in my office.

— Vchekh

  • As far as I know, the verb in such constructions must agree in number with the first noun.
  • In your sentence the first subject is "one chair", which is singular, so the verb must be singular, too: There is one chair and three phones in my office.
  • If you swapped the subjects (so that "three chairs" goes first), the verb would be plural: There are three phones and one chair in my office.
  • because "three phones" is plural.
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3 Answers
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As far as I know, the verb in such constructions must agree in number with the first noun. In your sentence the first subject is "one chair", which is singular, so the verb must be singular, too: There is one chair and three phones in my office. If you swapped the subjects (so that "three chairs" goes first), the
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vchekhs far as I know, the verb in such constructions must agree in number with the first noun. In your sentence the first subject is "one chair", which is singular, so the verb must be singular, too: There is one chair and three phones in my office. If you swapped the subjects (so that "three chairs" goes first), the verb would be plural: There are three phones and one c
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AnonymousThere is one chair and 3 phones in my office.There are one chair and 3 phones in my office.
Most liberal grammarians accept both sentences.

CB
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