[Grammar] Is / Are?

[Veggie]

Hello everyone,

I am translating something into English, but I have a problem with a sentence. I write "There are egg, honey, cheese, butter and olives in her plate," but Word underlines 'are' and offers 'is' instead. There are more than one thing in the plate, so why should I use 'is'?

 

[5jj]

Hello everyone,

I am translating something into English, but I have a problem with a sentence. I write "There are egg, honey, cheese, butter and olives in her plate," but Word underlines 'are' and offers 'is' instead. There are more than one thing in the plate, so why should I use 'is'?

Word has a strange way of working sometimes. Are is correct, but in should be on.

In your final sentence, however are should be is; note that thing is singular.

 

[billmcd]

First, my question: Is there one egg or two?

 

[Veggie]

Word has a strange way of working sometimes. Are is correct, but in should be on.

In your final sentence, however are should be is; note that thing is singular.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Veggie]

First, my question: Is there one egg or two?

There is one egg.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello everyone,

I am translating something into English, but I have a problem with a sentence. I write "There are egg, honey, cheese, butter and olives in her plate," but Word underlines 'are' and offers 'is' instead. There are more than one thing in the plate, so why should I use 'is'?

That's a poser! If there is one egg, I think you're more likely to hear:
"There's an egg, honey, cheese, butter and olives on her plate."

If there is more than one egg, then you'll hear:
"There are eggs, honey, cheese, butter and olives on her plate."

The only two countable nouns in that list are "eggs" and "olives". The fact that the egg comes first in the list makes the sentence more difficult to construct. To make life simpler and to ensure that "are" is used, I would change the order of the foods:

There are olives, honey, cheese, butter and eggs/an egg on her plate.

 

[5jj]

If the egg is chopped, sliced, scrambled, etc, we are more likely to treat the noun as uncountable.