Ted
there is two numbers or there are two numbers? which one's correct? it's just confused me very much, sometimes i heard people say " there is two someting someting, " , sometimes people may say " there are two something something"
Sep 4, 2011 11:12 PM
Answers · 5
1
If we are being exactly correct, it should always be "there ARE two of something." However, in spoken English, you may hear "There's two ...." You will always hear it as a contraction - almost never as "there is two...". It is an error, but it ends up being said a lot in everyday spoken English. If you say it, I doubt anyone would correct you. It's better to use the correct form, though. "There's two guys outside waiting for you." [Correct: There are two guys...] "There's four cars parked in the driveway." [Correct: There are four cars...]
September 4, 2011
It's "there are two numbers" in this case. It can be a little confusing, such as "there is a pair of candles on the table" and, of course, sometimes people are lazy and say the wrong thing. :-)
September 4, 2011
When to use "is" or "are" depends on whether the subject is singular or plural. E.g. There IS a number... There ARE two numbers... In one of the other answers given, this example was given: There IS a pair of candles on the table. The reason this sentence uses "is" is because it is the pair that is singular. I.e. You only have ONE pair. So: There IS a pair of candles... There ARE two candles... In response to one of the other answers offered regarding contractions, I don't recall hearing people use the wrong contraction very often. It would sound strange to me. In speech, I tend to say, for example: (There is a car outside). There's a car outside. (There are two cars outside). There're two cars outside. If someone were to say to me, "There's two cars outside," it would sound odd to me.
September 4, 2011
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