[Grammar] There is an apple and three oranges on the table.
LiuJing
Member
There is an apple and three oranges on the table.
This sentence is deemed correct in a Chinese school’s English test.
I don’t know why. If you write ‘there are an apple and three oranges on the table’, it would be marked wrong.
What is your opinion? Thank you in advance.
corum
Banned
The pre-verbal subject slot is filled by the pleonastic ‘there’, which assigns singular third person to the number of the verb. That is one view.
The other being that the deep subject «an apple and . » determines the number of the verb.
The makers of your test likes the surface-subject interpretation (the first view).
The plural ‘are’ is correct (too).
LiuJing
Member
The pre-verbal subject slot is filled by the pleonastic ‘there’, which assigns singular third person to the number of the verb. That is one view.
The other being that the deep subject «an apple and . » determines the number of the verb.
The makers of your test likes the surface-subject interpretation (the first view).
The plural ‘are’ is correct (too).
bertietheblue
Senior Member
TheParser
VIP Member
There is an apple and three oranges on the table.
This sentence is deemed correct in a Chinese school’s English test.
I don’t know why. If you write ‘there are an apple and three oranges on the table’, it would be marked wrong.
What is your opinion? Thank you in advance.
Good afternoon, LiuJing.
(1) It is unfortunate that the test has this question. It is not fair to
the students. If you have an understanding teacher who is genuinely
humble, perhaps you can respectfully suggest that this question be
deleted from future tests.
(2) I think that almost all books agree that «There are an apple and
three oranges on the table» is «correct.»
(a) That is: An apple and three oranges ARE on the table.
(3) These same books also agree that «There is an apple and three
oranges on the table» is correct because that is the way most native
speakers choose. The given reason is that people’s minds are thinking of
«apple,» so the singular immediately comes to mind. Another reason given
is that the sound of «is an apple» is more natural than the sound of «are an
Have a nice day!
EhabIsaac
Member
bertietheblue
Senior Member
This forum is designed so that learners can ask questions to teachers about the English language.
Post Titles
Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed. (Avoid phrases like «HELP!», «Urgent!», «translation please», «how do I say this», «I’m new» and similar expressions.)
About Replying to Posts:
You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly in your post. Please note, all posts are moderated by our in-house language experts, so make sure your suggestions, help, and advice provide the kind of information an international language teacher would offer. If not, and your posts do not contribute to the topic in a positive way, they will be subject to deletion.
Please don’t ask us to do or correct your homework; this is a place to discuss language.
Источник
