There

[Kristine May]

Am I correct in saying that when 'There' is in the beginning of the sentence, the tense of the verb that follows it depend on the number of the subject after the verb?

Examples:

There are a few things we need to discuss.

There seems to be a lack of communication.

[Raymott]

Am I correct in saying that when 'There' is in the beginning of the sentence, the tense of the verb that follows it depend on the number of the subject after the verb?

Examples:

There are a few things we need to discuss.

There seems to be a lack of communication.

You could assume that for formal writing and speech. Colloquially it is quite common to say, "There's a few things we need to discuss"; "There's seven people waiting to be rescued."
It doesn't work for "There is". Consider "There's" to be a special case.