Is there an island near here? …
There is a bus at the station …
There isn’t a pool in the city …
Is there a seat on the train? …
Yes, there is a beach in Patong …
Are there flowers in your garden? …
There are books at the shop …
There aren’t any flowers on the tree …
Are there bags in the cupboard? …
Yes, there are many books on the table …
London buildings
There are many interesting buildings to see in London. There is 30 Saint Mary Axe, nicknamed the Gherkin. Then there is the Lloyd’s Building where there are three towers and external elevators.
There are many amazing railway station buildings, but Saint Pancras is easily the most beautiful. On one site there are restaurants, hotel and railway station.
For great views, there is The Shard’s viewing platform or Tower Bridge’s glass walkway.
No trip to London is complete without a walk round the city. There is so much to see!
Questions and answers
1. ‘Are there any airports near London?‘ ‘Yes, there are three. First, there is Heathrow, then there are Stansted and Gatwick.’
2. ‘Are there black cabs in the city?‘ ‘Yes, there are black taxi cabs everywhere in London.’
3. ‘Is there an underground railway?‘ ‘Yes, there is. London has the oldest underground in the world. There’s a new section called the Elizabeth Line.’
4. ‘Are there soldiers outside Buckingham Palace?‘ ‘ Yes, there are. They are called the Queens’ Guard.’
5. ‘Are there foot bridges over the River Thames?‘ ‘Yes, there are many. The newest is the Millenium Bridge.’
there …
If we want to say that something exists or doesn’t exist somewhere, we can use ‘there is’ or ‘there are’. These are often used to talk about something for the first time in a conversation.
there is
‘there is‘ is used with singular nouns. (See Unit 3)
Short form: there is > there’s
There’s a cup on the table.
There isn’t a restaurant at the train station.
Is there a book shop near here?
there are
‘there are‘ is used with plural nouns. (See Unit 3)
No short form.
There are three banks on High Street.
There aren’t any shops in my village.
Are there any carrots in the cupboard?
We can use ‘there …’ with all tenses of the verb to be.
there was
There was a cup on the table this morning.
There wasn’t anything left to do so we went home.
Was there a sale at the store yesterday?
there were
There were three banks on High Street but one closed down. Now there are two.
There weren’t any shops in my village but one just opened.
Were there any carrots in the soup you made?