[Grammar] There have, There has, There is, There are?

[yiuho]

Hi All,

I always hear people say there are or there is, for instance, when I say there is a boy, can I say there has a boy? There are two men, can I say there have two men? In my country, my teacher said we shouldn't use there has or there have as these are grammatically incorrect, we need to say there is, there are in any time, is it correct?

Regards,

William

[Excalibur]

YES

BUT...
There has been a lot more snow this winter.
There have been more applicants for the course this year.

Can you see the difference? between the Present tense use (and choosing singular or plural) -there is/there are -

...and

that 'there' can also be used when we are talking about something in the Present Perfect tense, as in my sentences above.

The Present Perfect uses 'has/have' but with the past particle: has been/have done etc.

[konungursvia]

But in terms of a Cantonese speaker, he is thinking of the verb 有 which is commonly used in that language to mean "il y a" or "there is." I think it's best to tell him his teacher is right, and not to be one of the millions down there uttering things like "Here, have many people."

The important thing yiuho is to remember that the "THERE" in the phrases there is, there are, there was, there were do not mean 里邊, it is just part of the phrase.

This is why we have it twice if we mean 里邊: There are many people there. There are many students here.

[Excalibur]

...and now I have a glimmering as to why we westerners hear such odd constructions as, "Here, have many people."

[konungursvia]

Right. I should mention that the verb they use, 有, means "have."

[yiuho]

Thanks a lot Konungursvia and Excalibur. By the way, how come Konungursvia can express it in chinese, are you chinese?

[konungursvia]

No, but I know some Cantonese. I taught in HK.

[yiuho]

Originally Posted by konungursvia

No, but I know some Cantonese. I taught in HK.

Cool. Thanks a lot!