There Is / There Are & Delayed Subjects

You've probably had this exact moment. You're writing something — a story, an answer, a text to a friend — and you type:

There is three reasons…

Then you hesitate. Should it be there is or there are? You stare at it. The longer you look, the more wrong the whole thing seems — and now you're not sure about any of it. Maybe you delete the sentence and start again with something you are sure of.

Here's the thing: this really is confusing — genuinely, not just for you. Adults who write every day still get snagged on it. The tricky bit is that in sentences with there is / there are, the real subject comes after the verb, not before it. Your brain — sensibly, because that's how English usually works — wants to agree with there. But there is just an extra word to get the sentence started. It isn't the subject at all.

And it's not only there is / there are. English sometimes flips the normal word order in other sentences too:

Here comes the bus. Down the road ran two dogs.

Again — the real subject is hiding after the verb, waiting to trip you up.

The good news is that once you can spot the real subject, the grammar gets a whole lot easier. You already know how to match subjects and verbs — and if that part feels wobbly, there's a separate article on basic subject–verb agreement over in Pillar 1 that'll sort you out. This one is just about finding the subject when English has moved it out of its usual seat.

Before you read on, here's where we're heading. By the end you'll be able to: - Tell when to use there is and when to use there are. - Find the real subject when it comes after the verb. - Handle tricky sentences like There's lots of people here in school writing. - Understand inverted sentences like Here comes the teacher. - Avoid the common slips that cost you marks in exams and formal writing.

Beginner (Foundation)

Let's start with the ordinary pattern — the one you already know in your bones:

The dog is hungry. The dogs are hungry.

The subject (dog / dogs) comes before the verb (is / are). Easy enough — nothing hidden.

Now look at this:

There is a dog in the garden. There are two dogs in the garden.

This time, the word there comes first — so your eye naturally treats it as the boss of the sentence. But it isn't. There is what grammar people call a dummy word — a placeholder we use to get the sentence rolling. The real subject comes after the verb:

• a dog — singular → use is
• two dogs — plural → use are

So the basic rule is short and kind:

• Use there is with a singular thing.
• Use there are with plural things.

There is a spider in the bath. There are three spiders in the bath.

The same idea works in the past — nothing new to learn, just swap the verb:

There was a problem with my homework. (one problem) There were two problems with my homework. (more than one)

Nobody's born knowing this. Your brain just has to build a new little habit — the habit of looking after the verb to find the thing the sentence is really about.

Common Mistake: There is three sweets left. The subject is three sweets — plural — so it should be: There are three sweets left.

Quick recap: - In there is / there are sentences, there is not the subject. - Look after the verb to find the real subject. - Singular subject → there is / there was. - Plural subject → there are / there were.

Intermediate (Development)

Now we'll look at the cases that actually catch people out — mixed lists, there's, and those flipped-around sentences.

Lists after there is / are

Real life isn't always "one thing" or "many of the same thing." You get sentences like:

There is a pen and a notebook on my desk. There are a pen and two notebooks on my desk.

So what's going on?

You've got a compound subject — more than one thing, joined with and. In most grammar books, the tidy answer is this: if the subject is A and B, treat it as plural and use are / were. So in careful school writing, most teachers will want:

There are a pen and a notebook on my desk. There are a boy and a girl waiting outside.

But — and this is where it gets interesting — you'll also hear native speakers say:

There is a pen and a notebook on my desk.

Why? Because their brain quietly agrees with the first item (a pen) and stops there. That pull towards the nearest noun has a name — proximity — and it's completely natural. It just isn't what an examiner is looking for.

So for school exams, my advice is simple: with A and B, use there are / there were. You're very unlikely to be marked wrong for it.

Using "there's"

In speech, people constantly use there's even when the subject is plural:

There's [there is] three biscuits left. There's loads of people here.

You'll even find good writers doing it in dialogue — because that's how real mouths move. But in formal writing — essays, exams, anything that gets marked — it's safer to make the verb match properly:

There are three biscuits left. There are lots of people here.

If you catch yourself writing there's in something important, stop for a second and ask: is the thing after it singular or plural?

Pro-Tip: In formal writing, dodge there's altogether. Write there is (for one thing) or there are (for more than one). Spelling it out forces you to actually choose — which is exactly the point.

Inverted sentences: Here comes the bus

English sometimes flips the normal order and puts the verb before the subject — usually for a bit of drama, or just because it sounds more alive:

Here comes the bus. Here comes the teacher. Here comes my chance.

The real subject is still the thing that's doing the verb — the bus, the teacher, my chance. So:

• If that thing is singular, use comes / is / was.
• If it's plural, use come / are / were.

Compare:

Here comes the bus. (one bus) Here come the buses. (more than one) Here is your test paper. Here are your test papers.

You get the same thing with place words shoved to the front:

Down the street walks a policeman. Down the street walk two policemen.

All we've done is move the place phrase (Down the street) to the start for effect. The subject is still a policeman / two policemen — hiding at the back.

Common Mistake: Here comes the results of the test. The subject is the results — plural — so it should be: Here come the results of the test.

Quick recap: - With "A and B" after there, formal English prefers there are / there were. - In speech, people say there's with plurals — but avoid it in exam writing. - In inverted sentences like Here comes the bus, the subject is the noun after the verb. - Match the verb to that noun: singular → comes / is; plural → come / are.

Advanced (Mastery)

For real mastery, we need to tackle three more things — "amount" phrases, nearby nouns that mislead you, and knowing which rules you can relax and when.

Quantities as delayed subjects

Sometimes the delayed subject after there is / are isn't a simple noun at all — it's a quantity phrase:

There is a lot of homework tonight. There are a lot of students in the hall. There is plenty of milk in the fridge. There are plenty of biscuits left.

Whole books argue about whether the verb should agree with the quantity word (a lot, plenty) or the noun that follows (homework, students, milk, biscuits) — and honestly, I still have to think about a few of these myself.

Here's the practical way through it. For school writing, look past the quantity word to the noun behind it:

If that noun is plural, use there are / there were:

There are a lot of students. There were plenty of questions.

If that noun is singular or uncountable, use there is / there was:

There is a lot of traffic. There was plenty of time.

There's a separate article in this pillar (5.3) that pulls quantity expressions right apart — worth a read if you want to be rock-solid on them.

"Attraction errors": don't be tricked by nearby words

When the subject is delayed, your ear gets yanked towards the nearest noun — even when that noun isn't the real subject at all. This is called an attraction error, and it's sneaky:

There's a series of tests that are quite difficult.

Feels right, doesn't it? But the real subject is a series — singular. The word tests is just describing what the series is made of. So the careful version is:

There is a series of tests that is quite difficult.

I won't pretend that second one sounds cosy — it doesn't, quite. But in an exam it's the one that's safe. In everyday speech you'll hear the "wrong" version everywhere, and nobody minds. When you're writing for marks, though, track the real subject — not the loudest, nearest noun.

There's another article (5.5) devoted entirely to these attraction errors, because they turn up in far more places than just there is / are.

Pro-Tip: When you're checking over an important piece, circle the verb in each there is / are sentence and draw an arrow back to the true subject. Arrow lands on a singular word — make the verb singular. Lands on a plural — make it plural. It sounds fussy, but it works.

Style and register: what's allowed where?

Let's be honest — native speakers break these "rules" constantly the moment they open their mouths:

There's loads of reasons. Here comes the results.

In a text, a group chat, or just chatting in the corridor, nobody bats an eyelid — and nor should they.

But in formal school English — exams, essays, official letters — you're expected to make there is / are agree with the real subject, drop there's with plural subjects, and get the singular/plural match right in inverted patterns (Here come the results). You don't have to talk like an old grammar book at the weekend. Knowing the standard pattern just means you can switch it on when it counts — a bit like wearing your uniform for school and whatever you like on Saturday.

Quick recap: - With quantity phrases, match is / are to the noun that follows (a lot of students → there are). - Don't let a nearby plural drag the verb away from the real (often singular) subject. - Informal speech bends these rules — formal writing expects strict agreement. - Learning the "proper" pattern gives you the choice of when to keep it and when to relax it.

UK vs US Note

For these there is / are and inverted structures, UK and US English follow the same rules — no grammatical difference to memorise here. The only thing you'll notice is how relaxed people are about very informal patterns like There's two people waiting. That's common on both sides of the Atlantic — and best avoided in formal writing on both sides too.

If you're curious about the one place UK and US English genuinely part ways — collective nouns like the team is / are — that's covered in the Subject–Verb Agreement article back in Pillar 1.

Key Takeaways

• In there is / there are sentences, there is not the subject — the real subject comes after the verb.
• Make the verb agree with that real subject: singular → is / was; plural → are / were.
• With lists (a pen and a notebook), formal English prefers there are.
• In inverted sentences like Here comes the bus, the subject still follows the verb.
• Informal speech often uses there's with plurals — but keep it out of exams and formal writing.

Check Your Understanding

1. Choose the correct option.

a) There (is / are) two posters on my bedroom wall. b) Here (come / comes) the winners of the competition. c) There (was / were) a lot of noise in the corridor. d) There (is / are) a pencil and a ruler in my bag.

2. Fix the mistake (if there is one).

a) There's three questions left on the test. b) Here comes your books. c) Down the hill run the goats. d) There were a series of difficult maths problems.

3. Rewrite these sentences to be more formal.

a) There's loads of reasons to study English. b) There's a bunch of kids outside.

Internal links (Pillar 5 library)

From this article, we should link to:

• Hub — Pillar 5 overview: the map of the whole consolidation pillar.
• Pillar 1 — Subject–Verb Agreement (basics, back-link): for the core rule that verbs agree with their subjects, including the collective-noun UK/US split.
• Pillar 4 — Forms of be: for the different verb forms (is, are, was, were, has been, and so on).
• Pillar 5.3 — Quantities as Subjects: for more on a lot of, plenty of, a number of, and friends.
• Pillar 5.5 — Attraction Errors: for the wider trap where a nearby noun drags your agreement off course.

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