There are...and then there is...

[alpacinou]

I want to say someone/something is better/worse than anyone/anything else. Can I use "There are...and then there is..."?

Are these correct and natural?

1. There are delicious cakes and then there are Marita's cakes. They are in a different league.

2. There are great tennis players and then there is Anna. She's magical on court.

3. There are beautiful women and then there is Jessica. She's drop-dead gorgeous.

4. There are awful managers and then there is Jim. He is single-handedly leading the company into the toilet.

 

[Skrej]

Yes, this is a natural and fairly common construction,

At least with spoken word, you're more likely to hear it with contractions. Also you often hear the singular form for the first item, treating all instances as a collective group.

There's bad ideas, and then there's Jim's.

 

[alpacinou]

Yes, this is a natural and fairly common construction,

At least with spoken word, you're more likely to hear it with contractions. Also you often hear the singular form for the first item, treating all instances as a collective group.

There's bad ideas, and then there's Jim's.

Are these okay?

1. There's delicious cakes and then there's Marita's cakes. They are in a different league.
2. There's great tennis players and then there's Anna. She's magical on court.
3. There's beautiful women and then there's Jessica. She's drop-dead gorgeous.
4. There's awful managers and then there's Jim. He is single-handedly leading the company into the toilet.

 

[Skrej]

They work, but I'd still stick to the more gramatical initial plural forms for your examples. Although I mentioned you will likely hear the singular form, I didn't mean to suggest you should necessarily use it.

 

[emsr2d2]

When speaking, I'd say that we to use the plural but contract it to "There're". That does not work in written English! Write "There are". Say "There're" (sounds like "There uh").

 

[alpacinou]

They work, but I'd still stick to the more gramatical initial plural forms for your examples. Although I mentioned you will likely hear the singular form, I didn't mean to suggest you should necessarily use it.

So, are all the sentences in post 1 okay?

 

[emsr2d2]

So, are all the sentences in post 1 okay?

If you just want to know if they're all grammatically correct, yes. If you want to know if a native speaker would use them (without contractions), no.

 

[alpacinou]

If you just want to know if they're all grammatically correct, yes. If you want to know if a native speaker would use them (without contractions), no.

Would natives say them with contractions like this for speaking English:

1. There're delicious cakes and then There're Marita's cakes. They are in a different league.
2. There're great tennis players and then there's Anna. She's magical on court.
3. There're beautiful women and then there's Jessica. She's drop-dead gorgeous.
4. There're awful managers and then there's Jim. He is single-handedly leading the company into the toilet.

 

[emsr2d2]

Would natives native English speakers say them with contractions like this? for speaking English:

1. There're delicious cakes and then there're Marita's cakes. They are They're in a different league.
2. There're great tennis players and then there's Anna. She's magical on court.
3. There're beautiful women and then there's Jessica. She's drop-dead gorgeous.
4. There're awful managers and then there's Jim. He is He's single-handedly leading the company into the toilet.

In general, everyday English (BrE, at least), yes. Note that I've added two contractions. Trust me when I say, when there's a contraction to be made, we rarely miss the opportunity!

 

[Tarheel]

I want to say someone/something is better/worse than anyone/anything else. Can I use "There are...and then there is..."?

Are these correct and natural?

1. There are delicious cakes and then there are Marita's cakes. They are in a different league.

2. There are great tennis players and then there is Anna. She's magical on court.

3. There are beautiful women and then there is Jessica. She's drop-dead gorgeous.

4. There are awful managers and then there is Jim. He is single-handedly leading the company into the toilet.

They are excellent!

 

[Barque]

He is single-handedly leading the company into the toilet.

The "into the toilet" part doesn't sound a very natural choice of phrase to me. I'd expect something like "taking it down the drain". There are various other options of course.

 

[emsr2d2]

The "into the toilet" part doesn't sound a very natural choice of phrase to me. I'd expect something like "taking it down the drain". There are various other options of course.

I don't think "leading" goes with "into the toilet" particularly well. I'd use something like "... singlehandedly flushing this company down the toilet/loo".