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TALA
Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 52
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:14 pm Post subject: there is, there are |
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Hi,
There is/are one or two books on the table.
One or two books is/are on the table.
Which verb is the correct one? Why?
Thank you |
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iitimone7
Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 400 Location: Indiana, USA
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:53 pm Post subject: is/are |
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there is one book
there are two books
there are three books
there are four books
there is a library of books on the 3rd floor
there are several libraries of books on campus |
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BMO
Joined: 19 Feb 2004 Posts: 705
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:19 pm Post subject: Re: there is, there are |
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TALA wrote: |
Hi,
There is/are one or two books on the table.
One or two books is/are on the table.
Which verb is the correct one? Why?
Thank you |
There is one or two books on the table.
One or two books are on the table.
There is one book and two stamps on the table.
There are two stamps and one book on the table.
Verb goes with the closest noun, I think.
bmo |
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jours �tranges
Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 1 Location: New York
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:09 pm Post subject: Re: there is, there are |
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TALA wrote: |
Hi,
There is/are one or two books on the table.
One or two books is/are on the table.
Which verb is the correct one? Why?
Thank you |
There are one or two books on the table.
One or two books are on the table.
"Are" is the correct verb form. You use the word "is" only when you are talking about a single object/subject (for example, "There is one book", "There is a man with a book", etc.) When there is the possibility that there may be more than one object/subject, you would use the verb form "are" instead (example: "I think there are one or two people outside").
I hope that helps! =D |
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TALA
Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 52
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 2:22 am Post subject: |
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Thank you everyone so much.
How about "More than one book is/are needed"?
Thanks again |
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bud
Joined: 09 Mar 2003 Posts: 2111 Location: New Jersey, US
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:44 pm Post subject: |
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Is... I don't know for sure why, though. I think book (singular) is the subject. If not, then more is the subject, and that would also be treated as singular (many would be treated as plural). More is used for mass nouns, while many is used for countable nouns. |
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