There is and There are – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Confirming Headcount (In a Meeting / Classroom)
The teacher or manager is asking you to check how many people and things are in the room. Choose the correct option to provide the exact number and confirm the situation.
1 Teacher: “How many students ______ in the classroom today?”
(a) is there
(b) are there
(c) there are
2 Student: “Let me count. ______ fifteen students in the room right now.”
(a) There is
(b) They are
(c) There are
3 Look near the door. ______ a new student standing there.
(a) There is
(b) There are
(c) It is
4 We have a small problem. ______ only one empty chair for the two guests.
(a) There are
(b) There is
(c) There has
5 Manager: “______ a technician in the room? We need to fix the computer.”
(a) Are there
(b) Is there
(c) Does there
6 Employee: “Yes, ______ a technician here. He is checking the screen.”
(a) there is
(b) it is
(c) there are
7 How many chairs ______ around the big meeting table?
(a) there are
(b) is there
(c) are there
8 Manager: “______ any people waiting in the reception area?”
(a) Is there
(b) Do there
(c) Are there
9 Receptionist: “No, ______ anyone in the reception area right now.”
(a) there aren’t
(b) there isn’t
(c) they aren’t
10 Please check the attendance list. ______ twenty names on the paper, but only eighteen people here.
(a) There are
(b) There is
(c) There have
11 ______ an assistant to help us hand out the documents?
(a) Have there
(b) Is there
(c) Are there
12 I’m sorry, ______ an assistant available at the moment.
(a) there aren’t
(b) there doesn’t
(c) there isn’t
13 Let’s count the team members again. There ______ five men and six women.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) have
14 Look at the back row. There ______ a teacher and two parents sitting together.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) have
15 How much space ______ in the room for the latecomers?
(a) are there
(b) is there
(c) there is
16 We cannot invite more people inside. There ______ any space left!
(a) aren’t
(b) isn’t
(c) doesn’t
17 Excuse me, there ______ no coffee left for the guests on the table.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) has
18 How many bottles of water ______ on the desk for the speakers?
(a) there are
(b) is there
(c) are there
19 Are there any empty seats in the front row? – No, ______.
(a) there aren’t
(b) there isn’t
(c) they aren’t
20 There ______ a lot of noise outside the meeting room. Please close the door.
(a) have
(b) are
(c) is
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (b) are there
- Why it is correct: In a “How many…?” question with a plural noun (“students”), we must invert the order to “are there”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is used for singular nouns. (c) is the affirmative sentence structure, not used after “How many”.
2 (c) There are
- Why it is correct: “Fifteen students” is plural, so we use “There are” to indicate existence.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for singular nouns. (b) “They are” means identifying who they are, not stating that they exist in a place.
3 (a) There is
- Why it is correct: “A new student” is a singular noun.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for plural nouns. (c) “It is” is not used to indicate presence/existence in a space.
4 (b) There is
- Why it is correct: “Only one empty chair” is singular.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (c) “There has” is a very common grammatical mistake (incorrect structure).
5 (b) Is there
- Why it is correct: The question for a singular noun (“a technician”) begins with “Is there”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (c) uses the wrong auxiliary verb.
6 (a) there is
- Why it is correct: This is the short affirmative answer to the question “Is there…?”, confirming the presence of one person.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) does not match the question structure. (c) is for plural nouns.
7 (c) are there
- Why it is correct: The question order for the plural noun “chairs” is “are there”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is the affirmative order. (b) is for singular nouns.
8 (c) Are there
- Why it is correct: “People” is an irregular plural noun, so the question uses “Are there”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for singular nouns. (b) uses the wrong auxiliary verb.
9 (b) there isn’t
- Why it is correct: The indefinite pronoun “anyone” is always treated as singular. The negative form is “there isn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (c) is a structural error.
10 (a) There are
- Why it is correct: “Twenty names” is plural.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for singular nouns. (c) is a basic structural error.
11 (b) Is there
- Why it is correct: The question is about a singular noun (“an assistant”).
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is a structural error. (c) is for plural nouns.
12 (c) there isn’t
- Why it is correct: The negative form for a singular noun (“an assistant”) is “there isn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (b) uses the wrong auxiliary verb.
13 (b) are
- Why it is correct: “Five men” is plural.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for singular nouns. (c) is a structural error.
14 (a) is
- Why it is correct: Rule of Proximity: When listing multiple groups (“a teacher and two parents”), the verb agrees with the noun closest to it. “A teacher” is singular → use “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is a common trap because the total number of people is three, but it violates the listing rule for “There is/are”. (c) is a structural error.
15 (b) is there
- Why it is correct: “Space” is an uncountable noun and is always used with the singular “is”. The question order is “is there”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural countable nouns. (c) is the affirmative order.
16 (b) isn’t
- Why it is correct: Similar to question 15, “space” is uncountable, so the negative form is “isn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural countable nouns. (c) uses the wrong auxiliary verb.
17 (a) is
- Why it is correct: “Coffee” is uncountable, so we use the singular. The sentence already contains the negative word “no”, so the verb must be affirmative (“is”).
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for plural nouns. (c) is a structural error.
18 (c) are there
- Why it is correct: Even though “water” is uncountable, “bottles” is countable and plural. Therefore, we use “are there”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is the affirmative order. (b) is for singular nouns.
19 (a) there aren’t
- Why it is correct: The question “Are there…?” takes the short negative answer “No, there aren’t.”
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for singular nouns. (c) does not match the “there” structure.
20 (c) is
- Why it is correct: “Noise” is an uncountable noun and always takes the singular “is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is a structural error. (b) is a trap with “a lot of”; you must look at the noun that follows it, not just the phrase itself.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
When a manager or teacher asks you to count the number of people or objects in a room, “There is / There are” is the only correct and standard structure to report it.
- Asking for the quantity:
- How many + plural noun + are there? (How many students are there?)
- Confirming the presence of people/objects:
- Just 1 person/object: Use There is. (There is a technician).
- 2 or more: Use There are. (There are fifteen people).
- Reporting that NO ONE / NOTHING is present:
- Singular / Uncountable (space, water, coffee): Use There isn’t any… or There is no…
- Plural: Use There aren’t any… or There are no…
- COMMON TRAPS TO AVOID AT A1 LEVEL:
- Word-by-word translation: Language learners sometimes say “The room has 5 people” or “There have 5 people”. This is a major error in English. You must say There are 5 people in the room.
- The Proximity Rule (Listing): If you list multiple groups of people, the verb must agree with the VERY FIRST group in the sentence. (e.g., There is a manager and two assistants. / There are two assistants and a manager).
- Anyone/Someone/No one: These are always treated as singular and are used with “There is”.