Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Globutron]

There IS three apples

or

There ARE three apples?

My students were asking and being a native, I'd say both are correct but I don't know which to tell them...

[Koreadays]

[daskalos]

This is where the terrible and commonly accepted contraction "there's" does the most damage to the language. It's very common to hear "There's three things ..." But it's wrong, wrong, wrong.

It's horrifying to me that someone hired to teach English had to ask this question, since, presumably, s/he had to get through 17 years of school to qualify.

[interestedinhanguk]

There are three apples.

Think about whether the noun is countable or not.

one unit- "There is..."
multiple units- "There are..."
uncountable- "There is..."

[Globutron]

It's weird that I received far less abuse for this, and at least semi-decent people responded in a helpful way, compared to a while ago when I actually asked a genuine question and got nothing but

'I hope to god you're not a teacher, idiot. lolol I'm smart he's dumb' etc.

I feel somewhat guilty now for making the thread.

[lichtarbeiter]