There Are There Is

There are there is: the quick grammar fix

Most people learn "there is" for singular and "there are" for plural. That works until they hear a native speaker say "there's three books on the table" and get confused. The actual rule is messier than the textbook version. There is (or its contraction there's) goes with singular nouns and uncountable nouns. There are goes with plural nouns. That's the core of it.

There is a problem at the office. / There are problems at the office. / There is water on the floor. / There are leaks in the ceiling.

There are there is in questions and negatives

Switching to questions just flips the subject and verb. Is there a problem? Are there any problems? Is there any water? Are there any leaks? Negatives work the same way. There isn't a problem. There aren't any problems. There isn't any water. There aren't any leaks.

The word "any" often appears in questions and negatives with uncountable and plural nouns. It's not required but it's very common in natural speech.

The proximity rule most people miss

When you have a list after "there is/are," the verb agrees with the first noun in the list, not the whole list. This is the proximity rule and it's the thing that trips people up in real writing. There is a pen and two notebooks on the desk. Here "a pen" is the first item, so "is" is correct even though the total is plural.

There are two notebooks and a pen on the desk. Now "two notebooks" comes first, so the verb switches to "are." I hit this exact problem once while writing an incident report for work. I had a long list of missing equipment and I kept writing "there is a monitor, two keyboards, and a mouse missing." A colleague flagged it as incorrect and I had to restructure the sentence. The fix was simpler than I expected: put the plural item first, or split it into two sentences. "There are two keyboards and a monitor missing from the station." That reads cleaner anyway.

The "there's" with plurals is real and acceptable

In informal spoken English, native speakers frequently use "there's" before plural nouns. "There's three people waiting outside." This is widely heard and acceptable in casual contexts. The formal written standard still prefers "there are" for plurals, so if you're writing for a test, a business email, or anything academic, stick with "there are." The contraction "there's" doesn't change for plural in speech because it's easier to say. Your brain is choosing flow over agreement. That's normal. Just don't carry it into formal writing without knowing you're doing it.

Common pitfalls to avoid

One mistake I see constantly is adding "there is" when the sentence doesn't need it. "There is many people who think this is wrong" is wrong because "many people" is plural. The correct version is "Many people think this is wrong." Or if you want the existential structure: "There are many people who think this is wrong." Another frequent error is using "there is" with plural count nouns when the meaning is uncountable. "There is five dollars on the table" should be "There are five dollars on the table" because dollars are countable. But "There is five dollars worth of damage" can be fine because you're talking about an amount as a single sum.

Don't confuse "there is/are" with "their" or "they're." They sound identical but mean completely different things. "Their car is broken" refers to possession. "They're waiting outside" means "they are." "There is a car outside" points to existence. Mixing these up is one of the fastest ways to look careless in writing.

A note on what this won't fix

Knowing the rule doesn't help when native speakers are being deliberately informal. If you're listening to a podcast or watching a show, you'll hear "there's" with plurals constantly. Accepting that variation prevents confusion. The grammar itself doesn't change, your exposure expectations do. If you need a quick reference sheet, there are plenty available online for free. The pattern is consistent enough that drilling it for twenty minutes will cover most cases you'll actually encounter. The proximity rule and the "there's + plural" exception are the only parts that need real attention.