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The English grammar says that we use there is when it's a singular noun and there are when it's a plural one. But I often hear people saying something like "There's also some other words that I'm going to say..."

Could somebody explain what's the matter? Is it something colloquial?

KillingTime
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Abigbong
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  • It's their style of speaking. Not likely to hear it on the Oxford campus. – Hot Licks Sep 19 '19 at 11:47
  • It's lazy speech. It's quicker to say 'There's' than 'There are'. Even those of us who know better are probably guilty on occasion. – Kate Bunting Sep 19 '19 at 11:52
  • thank you people, just thank you, a lot – Abigbong Sep 19 '19 at 11:55
  • There is does not work the same as there's. Once a verb is contracted, it does not inflect. Therefore it is normal and common and natural and grammatical to say There's some people here to see you. The plural There are is almost never contracted, because it's too hard to pronounce correctly, so if you want a contraction, it'll be there's, whether the original subject before There-Insertion was singular or plural. – John Lawler Sep 19 '19 at 18:21
  • @JohnLawler - https://books.google.com/books?id=od7fvbnd02MC&pg=PT613&dq=%22there%27re%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwirh5C91eDkAhUEJzQIHdRPCU0Q6AEwBXoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=%22there're%22&f=false – Hot Licks Sep 21 '19 at 00:35
  • @HotLicks: Notice I said it was hard to pronounce. This example is printed and therefore not subject to speech constraints. As you will see if you actually try to pronounce this poem, the contractions of there are distort the meter of the poem with extra syllables, giving a notable McGonagall touch to the stanzas. – John Lawler Sep 21 '19 at 16:26
  • @JohnLawler - I don't listen to myself talking that much, but I think I tend to say "threre-ur" when pronouncing "there're", and I've certainly heard other people say it. – Hot Licks Sep 22 '19 at 00:14
  • Exactly. There's that extra syllable that there's doesn't have, which thumps like a peg leg through the scansion. – John Lawler Sep 22 '19 at 02:05

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