There is/ there are

There is/ there are
Message from oldmongtung posted on 06-03-2015 at 15:15:02 (D | E | F)
Hello,
Could you help me please?
Which one is correct? Kindly help. Thank you.
1) there is some bread and some butter in the fridge.
2) there are some bread and some butter in the fridge.

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Edited by lucile83 on 06-03-2015 19:07

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Re: There is/ there are from razzor, posted on 06-03-2015 at 18:31:34 (D | E)
Hello,
The verb always agrees with the first item in the list.
For example, compare
- There is an apple and an orange in the basket
- There are two apples and an orange in the basket

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Re: There is/ there are from violet91, posted on 06-03-2015 at 20:22:43 (D | E)
Hello ,
How about this ? Not that easy , is it ?
"(I'm a native speaker.) I think you will usually find are with compound subjects in formal English. You will find a mix of usages in informal English. The following is from the conclusion of the discussion of there is/there are in Webster's Dictionary of English Usage:
Jespersen notes that the invariable singular occurs mostly in the colloquial style -- speech and speechlike prose -- and is generally avoided in the literary style. That observation accords with our evidence. " [there is /are a boy and a girl : forum)]
* It doesn't concern 'there is some bread and some butter in the fridge' ( bread & butter are uncountable nouns)

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Re: There is/ there are from lucile83, posted on 06-03-2015 at 22:08:24 (D | E)
Hello,
1) there is some bread and some butter in the fridge....correct
2) there are some bread and some butter in the fridge....incorrect

The number of the verb agrees with the number of the nearest object.
There is a park, (there is) a palace and (there are) numerous canals.
Link

Link

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Re: There is/ there are from clint01, posted on 09-03-2015 at 07:46:41 (D | E)
Hello,
Thank you all for the informative answers.
But what about this one?
"There WERE three FIRES in the city last night."
Fire is (sometimes) a noncount (uncountable) noun and sometimes a countable one.
As firefighters we should try our best to control fires as soon as possible.

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Edited by clint01 on 09-03-2015 07:48

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Re: There is/ there are from lucile83, posted on 09-03-2015 at 10:28:26 (D | E)
Hello,
Fires is used as a plural here, so you have to use 'there are'.
The sentence is about three different fires in the town, it is not like The Great Fire of London, in 1666.
Hope it helps.

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Re: There is/ there are from lukaznachi, posted on 13-03-2015 at 21:19:23 (D | E)
Hello.
When you think of fire in its original meaning, as the visible effect of the process of combustion, it's singular.

But when you think of fire as the aftermath of somebody's nonchalance or inattention which can lead to destroying a house or a flat etc., or in one word, when you think of it as a conflagration, it can be both singular and plural.
''There were three fires (conflagrations) in the city last night.''
I hope I've made it clearer.

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Re: There is/ there are from kvg999, posted on 14-03-2015 at 01:08:54 (D | E)
Hello,
There was a fire last night
There were three fires last night

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Edited by lucile83 on 14-03-2015 07:13

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Re: There is/ there are from abdulra7man9, posted on 03-04-2015 at 08:27:51 (D | E)
there is a mouse in the kitchen.
there are a lot of mice in the kitchen

hope it helps

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