There are only three eggs left in the refrigerator.
There’s a lot of traffic on the freeway this morning.In each example there begins the sentence, but the true subjects– eggs and a lot of traffic –are delayed until after the verb.
There is nothing grammatically wrong with this construction. Did you notice that I just wrote a sentence beginning with “There is”? Simply placing the true subject first would create Yoda-speak:
Nothing grammatically wrong with this construction is.Rewriting an expletive sentence (the kind that begins with a subject place-holder like “There”) requires a little more effort than simple reversal. That’s probably why we let so many of them creep into our first drafts.
Compare the following:
There is research that shows that phonics is the most important component of beginning reading.Not only is the delayed subject pattern wordy, but it can also lead to a lack of subject-verb agreement. Here are some examples from websites offering professional services:
Research shows that phonics is the most important component of beginning reading.
There’s good reasons EmCare is the industry leaderInformal conversation is one thing, but writing for a professional purpose is something else again. If the “There is” opener is the preferred stylistic choice, then the delayed subject should agree with the verb that precedes it:
There’s areas of freezing drizzle/mist out there this afternoon.
There’s schooling costs, there’s health costs and they’ll continue to be provided out of the centres for those who are being temporarily resettled…(This was a government minister.)
There are good reasons EmCare is the industry leaderLinguistically speaking, there’s may be the equivalent of French il y a, which can mean either “there is” or “there are” and there’s no reason for this article.
There are areas of freezing drizzle
There are schooling costs…
Practically speaking, a great many English speakers–potential customers and clients–cringe when they hear “there’s reasons,” let alone see it written in a business context.
Source: Daily Writing Tips
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