there was or there has been

[ostap77]

" There has been a lot of rumours about this particular incident"

OR


"There was a lot of rumours about this particular incident"

The first sentence suggests that there were rumours and still are.

The second one say that there were rumours in the past but not anymore.

Am I right?

 

[Barb_D]

You are right about your use of tense, but note that it should be:

There have been a lot of ...
There were a lot of ...

"A lot of" is plural so you need the plural form of the verb.

 

[ostap77]

You are right about your use of tense, but note that it should be:

There have been a lot of ...
There were a lot of ...

"A lot of" is plural so you need the plural form of the verb.

I'll memorize it.

Is it possible to use "there had been" instead "there were" in order to put emphasis and convey importance of that incident?

 

[Barb_D]

You can use "there had been" if at a later point in time (but also in the past) something else happened.

There had been a lot of rumors, so the company went to great pains to make sure that every employee had the complete and true story about what had happened.

The rumors preceded the company's efforts to inform the employees.

 

[ostap77]

:up:

You can use "there had been" if at a later point in time (but also in the past) something else happened.

There had been a lot of rumors, so the company went to great pains to make sure that every employee had the complete and true story about what had happened.

The rumors preceded the company's efforts to inform the employees.

:up: