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Which of the following sentences is correct?

1) I'll put my Pepsi cans in the fridge and if THERE IS one too many then I'll put it in another cupboard somewhere.

2) I'll put my Pepsi cans in the fridge and if THERE ARE one too many then I'll put it in another cupboard somewhere.

Thank you.

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Type: Question • Score: 0 • Views: 872 • Replies: 13

[+3] - izzythepush - 07/22/2017[i]Is.[/i] You're only talking about one can. Use [i]are[/i] if more than one, as in, "I'll put my Pepsi cans in the fridge and if THERE ARE [size=150]two[/size] too many then I'll put...

@paok1970,

Is. You're only talking about one can. Use are if more than one, as in,

"I'll put my Pepsi cans in the fridge and if THERE ARE two too many then I'll put them in another cupboard somewhere."

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@izzythepush,

Quote:

Is. You're only talking about one can. Use are if more than one, as in,

"I'll put my Pepsi cans in the fridge and if THERE ARE two too many then I'll put them in another cupboard somewhere."

Izzy is relating a rule that he thinks is a real rule but it isn't in reality. For the vast majority of "there's/there is + plural" English speakers of all register levels use the form in bold a lot.

The same follows with here's + plural; where's + plural.

I just noticed one in an Izzy post very recently.

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When I notice these "there's + plurals" I'll post them in this thread.

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@camlok,

camlok wrote:

When I notice these "there's + plurals" I'll post them in this thread.

It's very common in casual conversational spoken English, especially, I have noticed, where 'are' would result in consecutive vowel awkwardness, e.g. there's a lot of people in the park. In my childhood schoolteachers attempted to drum it out of us.

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@centrox,

Quote:

In my childhood schoolteachers attempted to drum it out of us.

Not only casual. It is used in all spoken registers of English. Not all the time of course, but it is not something that is going back, if it was ever that way to begin with.

Schoolteachers never were very bright when it came to language, which is why there are so many damn stupid adults going around supplying cockamamie advice about the English language.

I mean, if Izzy is using it, it's a done deal!

1 Reply

@camlok,

camlok wrote:

Schoolteachers never were very bright when it came to language

I was a young child in a working-class district of south London, and one of the objectives of the teachers seems (to me) to have been to make us "talk proper". That is, to say isn't instead of ain't, other instead of uvver, to not drop aitches or final Gs, etc.

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@centrox,

Yes, I did say,

Schoolteachers never were very bright when it came to language.

1 Reply

@camlok,

camlok wrote:

Schoolteachers never were very bright when it came to language.

They weren't just teaching about language: they were forcing standard English upon dialect speakers. They were carrying out the 'pedagogic lie' process. I am specifically thinking about the teachers I had from 5 to 11. The teachers I encountered after the age of 11 were much better.

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@centrox,

Quote:

The teachers I encountered after the age of 11 were much better.

They must have kept up the "pedagogic lie" approach.

1 Reply

@centrox,

centrox wrote:

I am specifically thinking about the teachers I had from 5 to 11.

That's what I call a school day, bloody kids of today have got it easy. Bring back national service, powdered egg and spangles.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

Nothing from Izzy about how he doesn't know his ass from his elbow when it comes to the English language.

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@camlok,

camlok wrote:

They must have kept up the "pedagogic lie" approach.

Do you actually know what that is?

1 Reply

@centrox,

Of course. It's what has kept Izzy so bloody ignorant so long into adulthood.

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