Bathroom Bedroom Living Room Kitchen
- #7
While at first you may think that "There is a kitchen" is correct, because kitchen in itself is singular - you should consider that you are talking about more rooms, so:
There are a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, etc.
- #9
I'm sorry. I disagree, L.P. Translator.
"She looked at the floor. There was a shirt, two socks and a pair of shoes lying there." I would not say "there were a shirt..."
Neither would you say "there is two socks" though... maybe it depends on which comes first? You've got me confused now! 
Can't you really say "there were a shirt, two socks and a pair of shoes"? It sounds fine to me, but bear in mind that I'm not a native English speaker.
- #10
I can't find a rule to cite, but I do believe it is supposed to agree with the number of the first noun. I would definitely say "There were two socks, a shirt and a pair of shoes lying there."
The "were" doesn't work, at least for me. I would never say "It was a grand occasion. There were the President, the Speaker of the House, and twelve Senators in attendance."
Last edited:
- #11
I can't find a rule to cite, but I do believe it is supposed to agree with the number of the first noun. I would definitely say "There were two socks, a shirt and a pair of shoes lying there."
The "were" doesn't work, at least for me. I would never say "It was a grand occasion. There were the President, the Speaker of the House, and twelve Senators in attendance."
I see. You probably know better being a native speaker. To be honest it didn't sound bad to me but maybe - even if it were correct English - it doesn't sound natural to native speakers.
Probably it sounds good to me because that is the proper form in Italian ("there were a shirt, two socks etc. - <<"c'erano una maglietta, due calzini, etc.">>).
Last edited by a moderator:
- #15
I would not say or write "There were a screech of tires, a scream and a loud bang." Would you? I also wouldn't say or write "There were a young boy and his mother at the door." I can't imagine a fairy tale starting "Once upon a time there were a young man and his wife..."
I do think that there is something more operating here besides simply counting up the number of items.
There is something called the Proximity Rule that governs a mixture of singular and plural subjects. I am still reading up on this but perhaps someone else knows the rule and its application without having to do research.
Last edited:
- #16
I hate to contradict a moderator, but I've made a living as an editor and writer for a good many decades, and—well, Egmont and I really are right on this one. There isn't a proximity rule here; a list of items requires a plural verb, no matter the order of the list.
I would say, "There were a young boy and his mother at the door." And, "There were an apple and an orange on the table." Would you say, "There was two people at the door"? Or, "There was two pieces of fruit on the table"?
Added: I found that proximity rule you mentioned; it applies to certain situations, prominently those involving either and neither, and it's explained, with examples, here—but it doesn't apply to list situations such as we've been discussing.
Last edited:
- #17
Oh, you're welcome to contradict a moderator. We're just contributors like you when it comes to the forums, and I don't have the qualifications you do. From what I've read so far, though, this is a contentious issue, even among editors.
For example, one site assumes that there is ellipsis occurring in a sentence such as "There is fruit, bread and wine on the table", contending that it can be expanded to "There is fruit, there is bread and there is wine on the table."
This BBC Learning English site has the following to say:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv128.shtml
But note:
There are three chairs and a table in the room.
There's a table and three chairs in the room.
The general rule is that the verb form matches the item(s) that it is adjacent to...
On another site I found this note:
http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/agree3a.html
There agreement differs with dialectal usage. In Br-English, plural agreement is used if the closest noun is plural or if there are multiple items in a series. In US English, plural agreement is with the closest noun.
There is a book, some pencils, and a notepad on my desk. (En-US)
There are a book, some pencils, and a notepad on my desk. (En-Br)
(Of course, the previous citation seems to contradict this one. I am assuming the BBC Learning English site is written from the perspective of British English.)
And from another site:
http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle...ish/Profile/Articles/2011/08/11/Redundancies/
The first sentence is correct, i.e. "There is an apple and an orange on the table."
My view is based on what Collins Cobuild English Grammar (2nd ed. 2005) says about whether to use "is" or "are" in sentences using "there" as its subject. It says that you use "a singular form of 'be' (which is "is") when you are giving a list of items and the first noun in the list is singular or uncountable." (p.416, 10.50))
And this note from a previous thread on a very similar subject:
With compound subjects in which all the coordinate words are singular, a singular verb often occurs, although the plural may also be used: There was (or were ) a horse and a cow in the pasture. When a compound subject contains both singular and plural words, the verb usually agrees with the subject closest to the verb, although a plural verb sometimes occurs regardless, especially if the compound has more than two elements: There were staff meetings and a press conference daily. There was (or were ) a glass, two plates, two cups, and a teapot on the shelf.
Source, Dictionary com. based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011.
So I still contend that there are those who see it the way I do. I don't think you can declare it simply wrong. It is debatable.
Last edited:
- #19
I thought that there could possibly be a grammatical rule somewhere that would once and for all declare who is right (not that we are winning any prize anyhow), but this seems to be way more complicated that one would think at first - and really interesting too.
I guess that in these situations you should just use the form most people use. Now, which form do you use?
- #21
Honestly, if someone said or wrote "There are a beginning and an end" or "There are a plan and a purpose" I would doubt their competence in English. My doubts might be unfounded but it wouldn't strike me as simply a stylistic preference; it would strike me as wrong. That gives a sense of how jarring it is to me. "There were an orange and an apple" strikes me the same way. I hear it as Yorkshire dialect, like "There were a man here yesterday".
Last edited:
Bathroom Bedroom Living Room Kitchen
Source: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/there-is-are-a-kitchen-a-bathroom-and-living-rooms.2877451/
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar