Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with is or are.

There + BE + Subject + Location	There + be is used to say that something exists in a particular location. Notice: The subject follows be: There is + singular noun There are + plural noun
There is a bird in the tree. (b) There are four birds in the tree.
There’s a bird in the tree. There’re four birds in the tree.	Contractions: There + is = There’s There + are = There’re

1. Thereis a grammar book n my desk.

2. Thereare many grammar books in this room.

3. There ______ two pens on Pierre’s desk.

4. There ______ a pen on my desk.

5. There ______ thirty-one days in July.

6. There ______ only one student from Singapore in our class.

7. There ______ three students from Argentina.

8. There ______ ten sentences in this exercise.

9. There ______ a wonderful park on the 33rd Avenue.

10. There ______many problems in the world today.

Exercise 2

Choose the correct answer in brackets. Mind that sometimes in informal English, a singular verb is used after there when the first of two subjects connected by and is singular.

For example:

• Formal: There are a book and a pen on the desk.

• Informal: There is a book and a pen on the desk.

1. There (isn’t, aren’t) any letters in the mail for you today.

2. There (isn’t, aren’t) any mail for you today.

3. There (is, are) a lot of problems in the world.

4. There (is, are) a fly in this room. Where’s the flyswatter?

5. There (is, are) over 600,000 kinds of insects in the world.

6. How many kinds of birds (is, are) there in the world?

7. Why (isn’t, aren’t) there a hospital close to those villages?

8. There (is, are) a green pen on Tim’s desk.

9. There (is, are) a green pen and a yellow notebook on Sue’s desk.

10. There (is, are) some pens and notebooks on Jack’s desk.

Exercise 3

Make sentences with there is or there are. Use the given phrases (groups of words) in your sentences.

Example:

A book / on my desk		There is (There’s) a book on the desk.
On Ann’s desk / some books		There are (There’re) some books on Ann’s desk.

on the wall / a map some pictures / on the wall in this room / three windows fifteen students / in this group in the refrigerator / some juice a bus stop / at the corner of Main street and 2nd Avenue 7. in the USA / fifty states

on television tonight / a good film 9. in our library / many dictionaries 10. a pencil sharpener / on the table 11. a grammar rule and an example / on page 20 no keys / in my purse some posters / on the wall 14. the Queen / in Great Britain

Exercise 4

Here are some facts about Britain, Study them and then give the same facts about your own country.

In Britain …	In My Country …
There is a Queen. There isn’t a President. There is a Union Jack. There are about 56 million people. There are some rivers. There aren’t any deserts. There are some very old universities. There is a famous clock called Big Ben. There aren’t any dangerous animals. There are many customs and traditions.	There is (There isn’t) a Queen.

Exercise 5

There are two pictures in front of you A and B.

Picture A	Picture B
Study what is said about Picture A. There is a bird in the cage. The old woman is writing a letter. There’s a cat on the sofa. The old man has got a moustache. The young woman is reading a book. There’s a glass on the table. The photograph is on the wall. There is an alarm clock on the TV. The gold fish isn’t in the bowl	What is different in picture B? _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 9. _________________________