There is/There are

Asked May 09 '22 at 12:03

Active May 09 '22 at 12:03

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As a general rule, we use there is when its followed by a singular noun and there are when the noun that follows is plural.

However, there is that particular line in one of Harry Potter movies that confuses me a lot,

"Broken? There is no bones left.."

Why is 'is' used here if the noun is plural?

asked May 09 '22 at 12:03

Lily

2

Welcome to ELU. Who says this in the film? Hagrid, for example, has a dialect which might use this. – Andrew Leach May 09 '22 at 12:10
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Does this answer your question? "There Is"/"There are" depends on plurality of the first list element or not? 'Existential there couples with either singular or plural verbs (there is / there are, according to the following noun phrase) . . . – Edwin Ashworth May 09 '22 at 13:50
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This formal agreement is strictly maintained in academic writing. But in narrative and everyday writing, there is and especially there’s is found even with plural nouns . . . In conversation the combination of there’s with a plural noun is in fact more common than there are, according to the 'Longman Grammar' . . .' [CGEL][Barrie England] – Edwin Ashworth May 09 '22 at 13:52

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