English Grammar Question About Verb Sentence Structure?

Question

What is the correct sentence form when you have a pronoun followed by a verb in conjunction with compound subjects in a sentence? Here is my example: Would you say, "There is a chair and table over by the desk?" where the sentence takes a singular form because of the pronoun there being closest to the verb is? Or would you say, "There are a chair and table over by the desk?" This would assume that you have compound subjects, (table and chair) so do you go with the plural verb "Are?" I have seen both ways be accepted by both school teachers and professors. But is one method preferred over the other? Do you go with the pronoun closest to the verb, or the format compound subjects=compound verb?

Jeff

Answer 1

Sentences beginning with 'there' (there are, there is, there were, it is, it was, and so on through all the tenses of 'to be' with there and it) are called expletive constuctions. In these, the subject follows the verb. In your sentence, 'chair and table' is the subject. It's a plural subject, so it takes a plural verb.

There ARE a chair and table... This is the only correct way - a singular verb may not be used with the plural subject.

Answer 2

The first noun defines the verb.

There is a chair and table over by the desk - you have "a" which tells you it should be "is"

There are chairs and a table over by the desk - chairs are plural which tells you it should be "are"

This is a table and some chairs over by the desk - a table is singular

There is water and some oranges over there - water is uncountable so is treated like a singular noun

Hope this helped

Answer 3

I agree with some of the other respondents that the best way to deal with this situation is simply to rephrase the sentence. My suggestion: "A chair and a table are over by the desk."

Answer 4

I would write "There is a chair and a table over by the desk"
(Note the extra "a" ) For me this solves the dilemma.

Answer 5

you won't be in a position to have 2 issues be "first and maximum acceptable", besides. %. one, and positioned the different interior the subsequent sentence. Leaving that off, you may make it, "we want Your Highness and Your Highness's kin each and all of the suitable, and we pray which you be constantly in sturdy wellbeing." That "be" will become an "are" in super Britain. notice that the pronoun gets capitalized in simple terms because it could have been in case you may had "Her Highness".