There is and There are – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Live Weather Update (Texting Family)
You are traveling in another city. You are texting your family to give them a live update on the weather conditions right now. Choose the correct option to complete your messages.
1 Hi Mom! Look outside my window! ______ a lot of rain here in London right now.
(a) There is
(b) There are
(c) It has
2 I cannot see the sun today because ______ many dark clouds in the sky.
(a) there is
(b) there are
(c) they are
3 We must stay inside the hotel. ______ a terrible storm coming from the sea.
(a) There are
(b) There is
(c) There has
4 ______ any snow in your city right now? It is very cold here.
(a) Are there
(b) Do there
(c) Is there
5 I can’t take good photos today. ______ a lot of thick fog in the mountains.
(a) There is
(b) There are
(c) It is
6 Don’t go to the beach today. ______ some very strong winds.
(a) There is
(b) There are
(c) There have
7 The weather is beautiful right now. ______ a lot of warm sunshine.
(a) There is
(b) There are
(c) They are
8 I am a little scared! ______ a lot of loud thunder and dangerous lightning!
(a) There are
(b) There is
(c) There have
9 Are there any thunderstorms in your area today? – No, ______.
(a) there isn’t
(b) they aren’t
(c) there aren’t
10 Be careful if you drive. ______ a lot of dangerous ice on the roads.
(a) There are
(b) There is
(c) It has
11 ______ a beautiful rainbow over the city! I will send you a picture.
(a) There is
(b) There are
(c) There be
12 I don’t need my umbrella today because ______ any rain at all.
(a) there aren’t
(b) there isn’t
(c) there no
13 Look up at the night sky! ______ millions of bright stars tonight.
(a) There is
(b) There are
(c) It has
14 The street is very wet because ______ many deep puddles of water.
(a) there are
(b) there is
(c) they are
15 Is there a strong wind outside? – Yes, ______.
(a) there are
(b) there is
(c) it is
16 We are very lucky. ______ a single cloud in the sky today!
(a) There aren’t
(b) There isn’t
(c) There doesn’t
17 ______ any heavy snow on the ground, so the buses are still running.
(a) There aren’t
(b) There isn’t
(c) They aren’t
18 ______ any strong hurricanes in this part of the country?
(a) Are there
(b) Is there
(c) Have there
19 I can’t sleep. ______ a really loud storm outside my window.
(a) There is
(b) There are
(c) There has
20 We can definitely go for a walk later. There ______ no rain in the forecast.
(a) are
(b) is
(c) have
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (a) There is
- Why it is correct: “Rain” is an uncountable noun. We always use the singular “There is” with uncountable nouns.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for plural nouns. (c) “It has” is a common direct translation error; we use “there is” to report that a weather condition exists.
2 (b) there are
- Why it is correct: “Dark clouds” is a plural countable noun. Therefore, we use “there are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for singular nouns. (c) “They are” is used to identify objects (“Chúng là…”), not to state their presence.
3 (b) There is
- Why it is correct: “A terrible storm” is a singular countable noun.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (c) “There has” is a major structural error.
4 (c) Is there
- Why it is correct: “Snow” is an uncountable noun. To ask a question about an uncountable noun, we use “Is there…?”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (b) uses the wrong auxiliary verb.
5 (a) There is
- Why it is correct: “Fog” is an uncountable noun. We must treat it as singular and use “There is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for plural nouns. (c) “It is” identifies an object but does not announce its existence in the environment.
6 (b) There are
- Why it is correct: “Winds” is used here as a plural countable noun (meaning multiple gusts of wind), so we use “There are”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for singular nouns. (c) cannot be combined with “there”.
7 (a) There is
- Why it is correct: “Sunshine” is an uncountable noun.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for plural nouns. (c) is a structural error.
8 (b) There is
- Why it is correct: The Rule of Proximity! The list is “thunder and lightning”. Both are uncountable nouns. Because the first item (“thunder”) takes a singular verb, we use “There is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is a common trap because the speaker mentions two different weather phenomena, but it breaks the proximity rule. (c) is incorrect grammar.
9 (c) there aren’t
- Why it is correct: The question asks “Are there…?”, so the matching negative short answer is “No, there aren’t.”
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for singular/uncountable nouns. (b) does not match the question word “there”.
10 (b) There is
- Why it is correct: “Ice” is an uncountable noun. Even with “a lot of”, uncountable nouns always take “There is”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is a common mistake because students think “a lot of” always means plural. (c) is a translation error.
11 (a) There is
- Why it is correct: “A beautiful rainbow” is a singular countable noun.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for plural nouns. (c) uses the unconjugated base verb “be”.
12 (b) there isn’t
- Why it is correct: “Rain” is uncountable, so the negative form is “there isn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (c) is missing the verb “is”.
13 (b) There are
- Why it is correct: “Millions of bright stars” is plural.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for singular nouns. (c) is a structural error.
14 (a) there are
- Why it is correct: “Puddles” (vũng nước) is a plural countable noun.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for singular nouns. (c) does not express existence.
15 (b) there is
- Why it is correct: The question asks “Is there…?”, so the positive short answer is “Yes, there is.”
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural. (c) does not use “there”.
16 (b) There isn’t
- Why it is correct: “A single cloud” is singular. The negative form is “There isn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (c) uses the wrong auxiliary verb.
17 (b) There isn’t
- Why it is correct: “Snow” is uncountable. The negative form is “There isn’t”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (c) is a structural error.
18 (a) Are there
- Why it is correct: “Hurricanes” (bão lớn) is plural, so the question must start with “Are there”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for singular nouns. (c) uses the wrong auxiliary verb.
19 (a) There is
- Why it is correct: “A really loud storm” is a singular noun.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is for plural nouns. (c) “There has” is grammatically incorrect.
20 (b) is
- Why it is correct: “Rain” is an uncountable noun. Because the sentence uses the negative word “no”, the verb must be the affirmative singular “is”. (There is no rain = There isn’t any rain).
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is for plural nouns. (c) is a structural error.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
While you can say “It is raining” or “It is snowing” (Present Continuous), you can also use “There is / There are” to report the weather like a news anchor. It tells the listener what weather conditions currently exist in your location.
- The Most Important Rule: Most weather words in English are UNCOUNTABLE. You cannot count rain, snow, fog, ice, sunshine, lightning, or thunder. Therefore, you must ALWAYS use the singular There is.
- (+) There is a lot of rain.
- (-) There isn’t any snow.
- (?) Is there any fog?
- Countable Weather Words: Some weather words can be counted (clouds, storms, winds, puddles, rainbows).
- Singular: There is a big storm. / There is a rainbow.
- Plural: There are many dark clouds. / Are there any storms?
- “A lot of” Trap: “A lot of” does not change the grammar rules!
- There is a lot of rain. (Rain is uncountable → is).
- There are a lot of clouds. (Clouds are plural → are).
- No vs. Not Any:
- There is no rain. (Correct)
- There isn’t any rain. (Correct)