There Is / There Are & Delayed Subjects

You're dashing off an email — the one you fire off at 4:55 on a Friday — and you type:

There is a few things we need to discuss…

Then you pause. Is it there is or there are? You change it. You change it back. Suddenly the whole sentence looks dodgy — and you're a little annoyed that a word as small as is / are has managed to stop you dead.

Here's the thing: the problem isn't your intelligence — it's the word order. In English, the verb normally agrees with the subject that comes before it:

The report is ready. The reports are ready.

But in there is / there are sentences, the real subject comes after the verb — so your brain, quite reasonably, tries to agree with the wrong thing. Either with there itself, or with whatever noun happens to be closest.

The same gremlin pops up in other "flipped" patterns:

Here comes the bus. Down the street walked a protester.

Again — the subject isn't where you expect it to be.

The good news is that the underlying rule never actually changes. The verb still agrees with the subject — you just have to get used to spotting the subject when it's been delayed or the sentence has been turned around. Once that clicks, these is / are decisions stop being decisions at all. They become routine.

Before you read on, here's where we're heading. By the end you'll be able to: - Decide confidently between there is and there are in everyday writing. - Find the real subject in sentences where it doesn't come first. - Handle mixed subjects (a laptop and two monitors, a lot of emails). - Use inverted patterns like Here comes the bus without second-guessing yourself. - Catch the subtle agreement slips that creep into professional writing.

Beginner (Foundation)

You already know the basic pattern — you use it a hundred times a day without thinking:

The file is on the server. The files are on the server.

Subject before verb; singular takes is, plural takes are. Straightforward.

Now look at this:

There is a file on the server. There are two files on the server.

Here, there sits in the subject's chair. But grammatically, it's only a dummy subject — a placeholder holding the door open. The real subject arrives after the verb:

• a file — singular → is
• two files — plural → are

Same story in the past tense — no new rule, just a different verb:

There was a delay with your order. (one delay) There were several delays with your order. (more than one)

So the foundation rule comes down to three moves: there is not the subject; the real subject sits after the verb; make the verb agree with that.

Common Mistake: There is many reasons to update the policy. Subject: many reasons — plural — so: There are many reasons to update the policy.

If subject–verb agreement in general feels shaky, the Pillar 1 article is the place to start — I won't re-tread it here. This piece is only about what happens when the subject is delayed.

Quick recap: - There is a dummy; it's not the subject. - The real subject sits after the verb. - Singular subject → there is / there was. - Plural subject → there are / there were.

Intermediate (Development)

Once you're past the simple "one chair / three chairs" level, a handful of real-world patterns start causing trouble — mixed subjects, the contraction there's, and other inverted structures.

Compound subjects after there is / are

Work writing is full of little lists:

There is a printer and a scanner in the room. There are a printer and a scanner in the room.

Which one would you reach for?

Grammatically, a subject built from A and B is plural — so the textbook answer is:

There are a printer and a scanner in the room. There are a manager and two assistants on duty.

In real life, though, you'll see and hear plenty of:

There is a printer and a scanner in the room.

That's because our ears tend to latch onto the first item (a printer) rather than the whole pair. This "nearest noun wins" habit has a name — proximity agreement — and it's not stupidity, it's just how the mind processes a sentence in real time.

In a casual email you can probably get away with either. In anything polished — a report, an application, customer-facing copy — I'd stick with there are / there were. It keeps you on the safe side of just about every style guide.

The there's trap

In speech, loads of native speakers use there's for both singular and plural subjects:

There's a problem with your order. (singular) There's two problems with your order. (plural)

Spoken English is soaked in this — and you'll see it in informal writing too: texts, Slack, the odd social post.

For formal or semi-formal writing, though, it pays to keep the agreement visible:

There is a problem with your order. There are two problems with your order.

One easy bit of self-protection: just avoid there's in serious writing altogether. Spell out there is or there are, and the choice makes itself.

Pro-Tip: When you catch yourself typing there's in a work email or document, stop and expand it. Then check — is the following noun singular or plural? Nine times out of ten, that half-second is all it takes.

Inverted sentences: Here comes the bus

English sometimes flips the usual "subject–verb–rest" order — for emphasis, or just to give a sentence a more live feeling:

Here comes the bus. Here comes my chance. Here comes the weekend.

In each one, the real subject is the bus / my chance / the weekend — so we pick comes (singular) to match it.

Now compare:

Here come the buses. Here come the results. Here are your tickets.

All plural subjects (the buses, the results, your tickets) — so all plural verbs. Same move works with a place phrase up front:

Down the road walks a police officer. (subject: a police officer → singular) Down the road walk three police officers. (subject: three police officers → plural)

The pattern to hold onto: ignore here and any place phrase (down the road, out of the building), find the noun after the verb, and make the verb match it.

Common Mistake: Here comes the results of the survey. The subject is the results — plural — so: Here come the results of the survey.

Quick recap: - Compound subjects (a printer and a scanner) are plural → prefer there are. - In speech, there's often takes plural subjects — but avoid it in careful writing. - In inverted sentences like Here comes the bus, match the verb to the noun that follows. - Place phrases at the start (Down the road) are not subjects — don't agree with them.

Advanced (Mastery)

If you write a lot, the cases that really earn their keep are quantity phrases, attraction errors, and knowing which "rule breaks" are stylistically fine.

Quantities as delayed subjects

Often the subject after there is / are isn't a plain noun — it's a quantity phrase:

There is a lot of traffic this morning. There are a lot of emails to answer. There is plenty of time to discuss it. There are plenty of reasons to reconsider.

You'll find two competing instincts here. Some writers treat a lot of / lots of / plenty of as simply plural-sounding, and always reach for are / were. Others — and most modern style guides — recommend agreeing with the noun that follows (traffic / emails / time / reasons).

For businesslike, educated English, I'd go with the second camp. If the following noun is uncountable or singular, use there is / was:

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

If it's plural, use there are / were:

There are a lot of emails to send. There were plenty of complaints.

There's a dedicated Pillar 5 article (5.3) that takes these quantity expressions apart properly, if you want the deep dive.

Attraction errors: when the nearest noun wins

When the real subject comes after the verb, your ear is easily hijacked by the nearest noun — especially if that noun is more concrete, or more obviously plural. Take this:

There is a series of meetings that are scheduled for next week.

Most people's instinct is to let are agree with meetings. Strict agreement, though, would give:

There is a series of meetings that is scheduled for next week.

Why? Because grammatically the subject is a series — singular — and of meetings is just a prepositional phrase telling you what the series is made of. In everyday speech you'll hear both, and no one will complain. In a formally edited document, an editor will quietly line all the verbs up with the grammatical subject.

And sometimes — let's be honest — the tidy version still sounds stiff:

There are a bunch of data we need to look at.

You could argue for There is a bunch of data…; you could argue data is plural. It's a stylistic minefield — which is exactly the moment to stop wrestling and just rewrite:

We need to look at a lot of data. We have a large set of data to analyse [US: analyze].

That "nearest noun wins" pull turns up all over the place, not only after there is / are. Pillar 5.5 is devoted to it, and it's worth a look if you're polishing anything high-stakes.

Pro-Tip: When a sentence feels wobbly — There is a range of options which are… — it's usually easier to rewrite than to referee the grammar: - We have several options, which are… - Our options include…

Register: what's relaxed, what's "correct"

Let's be honest — plenty of so-called "wrong" patterns are perfectly natural in speech and casual writing:

There's lots of people here already. Here comes the results, hot off the press.

In a WhatsApp chat or a spoken presentation, nobody will think less of you.

But if you're aiming for a formal or neutral professional tone — CVs [US: résumés], cover letters, reports, academic work — it's worth tightening the screws: make there is / are agree with the real subject, drop there's with plural subjects, and in inverted patterns (Here come(s) X) match the verb to the noun rather than to your ear.

One last stylistic note — and this one's free. Whole paragraphs that open with There is / are can feel limp, even when the grammar is faultless. Readers usually prefer a more direct subject:

There are several issues with this approach. → This approach has several issues.

The grammar's identical. The second one just has a spine.

Common Mistake: Assuming "spoken-natural" automatically means "correct for everything." It doesn't. Learn the standard pattern so you can dial your formality up or down on purpose — rather than by accident.

Quick recap: - With quantity phrases, agree is / are with the following noun (a lot of emails → there are). - Attraction errors happen when the nearest noun drags the verb off the real subject. - In conversation and informal writing, many of these "errors" are perfectly acceptable. - For formal and professional writing, hold to strict agreement — and watch out for there's with plurals.

UK vs US Note

For there is / are and these inverted patterns, UK and US English follow the same agreement rules — nothing to relearn crossing the Atlantic. Both varieties use informal patterns like There's two options in speech, and both expect stricter agreement (There are two options) in formal writing.

If you're interested in the one genuine divergence — how UK and US English treat collective nouns (the team is / are) — that's covered in the Subject–Verb Agreement article back in Pillar 1.

Key Takeaways

• In there is / are sentences, there is only a dummy; the real subject comes after the verb.
• Always make the verb agree with that delayed subject — not with there, and not with the nearest noun.
• Compound subjects (a printer and a scanner) are plural → prefer there are.
• In inverted sentences (Here comes the bus), ignore here / there and place phrases; match the verb to the noun that follows.
• Informal usage bends these rules freely — formal and professional writing expects strict agreement.

Check Your Understanding

1. Choose the correct option.

a) There (is / are) three items on the agenda. b) Here (come / comes) the results you requested. c) There (was / were) a lot of resistance to the proposal. d) There (is / are) a laptop and two monitors on my desk.

2. Fix the agreement, keeping the sentence structure as close as possible.

a) There's several reasons we delayed the launch. b) Here comes the documents you asked for. c) There were a series of unexpected delays. d) Down the corridor walks the nurses.

3. Improve the following for a formal report (you may rewrite more freely).

a) There's lots of customers complaining about the new system. b) There's a bunch of data we need to go through before Friday.

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 agreement rule and the UK/US collective-noun discussion.
• Pillar 4 — Forms of be: for full verb-form coverage (is, are, was, were, has been, etc.).
• Pillar 5.3 — Quantities as Subjects: for detailed guidance on a lot of, plenty of, a number of, and similar phrases.
• Pillar 5.5 — Attraction Errors: for the broader look at how nearby nouns can mislead your agreement choices.