Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gopher]

Does this question truly fall under grammar's purview?

Every style book I consult strongly advises avoiding "there is/it is/there are" constructions in the first place. Indeed, one professor where I now study destroys any unfortunate graduate student who carelessly uses "to be" in any seminar paper...

Avoid: There is a famous author who lives on my block.
Use: A famous author lives on my block.

Avoid: There are many people who like television.
Use: Many people like television.

Avoid: It is rarely the case that people refuse to help.
Use: People rarely refuse to help.

Advise your students to choose another construction when talking about the balloon and the parachute, then.

See CliffsQuickReview, Writing: Grammar, Usage, and Style; or better yet: The Elements of Style. Two small paperbacks that seem to contain everything.

If you seek an authoritative answer from a prescriptive grammarian's perspective, however, neither of these will be much use to you.

[Adventurer]

[SeoulFinn]

Guys, I'll tell my better half of your questions and doubts. If she wants to continue in participating in this this discussion, I'll let her write under my account again.

As some people have already mentioned, even to me "there is" sounds more correct than "there are." Anyway, I also know that grammatically "there are" is correct in this case. (Don't ask me why, because I'm just a Finn and I'm not even involved in the English teaching industry.) To me the function of language is to make the exchange of ideas possible. As long as the "message" is passed undistorted and the recipient understands me correctly, that's enough for me.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

[Satori]

[stevenpa]

[stevenpa]