Introduction

We use "there is" / "there are" with quantifiers to describe amounts of nouns without using numbers.

Examples

there is:
• There is some milk.
• Is there enough coffee?
• There isn’t any money.
there are:
• There are some chairs.
• Are there many people?
• There aren’t enough eggs.

Form – "there is" / "there are" + nouns

Nouns

There are two types of noun: countable and uncountable nouns.

• countable nouns: A noun that can be counted using numbers. Only countable nouns can be plural (more or less than one):
  • "one chair" (singular)
  • "zero eggs" (plural)
  • "hundreds of people" (plural)
  
  
• uncountable nouns: A noun that cannot be counted using numbers. We treat them as singular without "a" / "an":
  • "water"
  • "time"
  • "money"

We use "there is" with a singular countable noun and all uncountable nouns.

We use "there are" with plural countable nouns.

Examples

• there is
  • positive:
    • "There is an egg."
  • negative:
    • "There isn’t (is not) time."
  • question:
    • "Is there milk?"
• there are
  • positive:
    • "There are zero eggs."
  • negative:
    • "There aren’t (are not) hundreds of people."
  • question
    • "Are there three chairs?"

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Practice

Complete the sentence with "there is" or "there are" in the positive, negative or question form as shown in brackets:

• a jacket . (positive)
   
• five books. (negative)
   
• chairs? (question)
   
• milk? (question)
   

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Form – "there is" / "there are" + quantifiers + noun

We use "there is" / "there are" + quantifiers to describe general amounts of both uncountable nouns and countable nouns (without using numbers).

Not all quantifiers can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns:

quantifier		quantifier definition
"there is" + uncountable noun	"there are" + plural countable noun
no		zero
any		an amount more than zero (negative / question form only)
a little	a few	a small amount
a bit of	several
less	fewer	smaller than another amount
some		an amount that is usually bigger than a small amount
enough		the required amount
not enough		less than the required amount
a lot of lots of		a big amount
more		an extra amount, or bigger than another amount
much	-	a big amount (usually negative / question forms only)
-	many	a big amount
not much	not many	not a big amount
too much	too many	bigger than the required amount

Examples:

"there is" + quantifier + uncountable noun

• positive:
  • "There is some milk."
• negative:
  • "There isn’t (is not) enough coffee."
• question:
  • "Is there any water?"

"there are" + quantifier + plural countable noun

• positive:
  • "There are lots of reports."
• negative:
  • "There aren’t many people."
• question:
  • "Are there too many eggs?"

Further practice

Complete the sentences with the correct answer from a, b, c or d:

• There ____ people at the conference.


is much are lots are many is some



• There ____ apples in the fruit salad.


is lots is too much are too many aren't some



• ____ people at the meeting?


Is there lots Are there much Is there any Are there lots of



• There ____ bread left.


isn't any aren't some isn't many is any



• I want to go to the park today but there ____ time.


aren't some isn't enough is any aren't enough



• There ____ water in the glass.


is a little are a few is any are many

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