Because May is the first month of our calendar year without the letter “R,” I decided to vent about my disappointment with writers and speakers no longer using the word “are.” What happened? I have a theory, which I will mention at the end, but first, here are some examples that I have heard or read, and then I’ll mention a couple of guides to help us (me, included).
- “There’s been eight months since . . .”
- “There is always going to be growing pains …”
- “There’s situations that come up…”
- “There’s always been flashes…”
- “There’s problems with . . .”
- “There’s a lot of people . . .”
Here is (are? 🤔) what I discovered.
The issue is the noun that follows “there’s” – is it a noun that is a “collective” noun? A single word that refers to more than one thing? Like class and group? Did you know that those nouns use singular verbs? I figured that these collective nouns were one of the problems, so I looked more at the examples I collected. But, first, here is a definition of a “collective” noun.
A noun that is singular in form but refers to a group of people or things.
Here are some other examples: audience, bunch, crowd, flock, gang, staff – you get the idea.
Even though it seems as if I should use a plural verb like “are” for nouns that refer to multiple people or things, apparently, I should just go with the fact that collective nouns need a singular verb like “is.”
HINT!!! A lot of confusion comes from the fact that the collective nouns are followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with of!!!
So . . . in my examples above – “There is a lot of people” qualifies. “Is” IS correct? Yes. Even though the word people describes more than one person, the word lot is a collective noun, so it needs a singular verb. Therefore, “is” IS good in this example.
Note to self: I need to ignore the noun in the prepositional phrase and focus on the noun after the verb. And then I need to understand that, even though that noun might indicate more than one person or thing, if it’s a “collective” noun, I need use a singular verb.
EXTRA HINT!!!!! Look for “a” or “an”!! A or an are used as articles indicating a . . . wait for it . . . a singular noun!!! Whoo hoo!
“There is a lot of people” gives me both examples – the word “a” and the word “lot” (ignoring the noun “people” in the “of” prepositional phrase). YAY! I think I’ve got it!
My other examples, like “There’s situations”???😞👎!
- Now, here’s my sociological theory why we don’t say “there are” anymore? Saying “there’s” is a LOT easier (physically) than saying “there’re.”
There’re is REALLY difficult to say and has fallen out of use. Saying both words – “there are” – would fix the problem, but that means we would have to say 2 syllables instead of 1.
Waah… 😭 It’s much easier to say 1 syllable. We have become lazy speakers in many ways, and this is just one example.
Happy May (without an “R” 😉).
Phew! Haven’t finished 1/2 my coffee yet, but that sure awakened my brain. I hope you produce many more articles like this.
Hi, Willie,
Analyzing this confusion sure hurt my brain, so I’m glad that someone found it helpful! ☺️
I have to keep reminding myself to look for the article “a,” so “There’s a lot of ___” is correct, but “There’s lots of ___” is incorrect and should be “There are lots of ___.”
Whew!
Great post! I struggle with “the data is” vs. “the data are” because data is accepted as both a collective noun but also a bunch of different sets. I don’t really know what the right answer is, but it seemed relevant. More of these posts, please!
Hi, Eric.
I agree that data can cause confusion, but data is a collective noun, even though it can also refer to a bunch of different data! Yowza!😄
We think that it’s a new thing, but really we’re just paying attention to the current evolution.
The word “knight” for example has a similar history. The original word comes from a Germanic word where you pronounced it something like “ke-nisht” (weirdly the French soldier from Monty Python was pretty accurate when he taunts Arthur and his men). Over time, the “kn” sound drops to just the “n,” just like in knowledge, knot, etc.
So there’re will probably evolve similarly!
Hi, Adam,
It took me a few minutes to realize that you were not referring to the collective noun discussion but my lazy speaking comment, and I completely agree!
Thank you for the Germanic reference and the Monty Python reference (it would sound funny if we all spoke today like they do on Monty Python, yes?).
It is interesting that, over time, being – let’s say “efficient” instead of “lazy” – humans have shortened every word. Many consonant blends, such as the “kn” you reference and “gn” at the beginning of words, and “mb” at the end our words, include a “silent” letter. These silent letters make it very difficult to learn how to pronounce American English from reading it.
I also learned something from attending the recent Florida Literacy Conference about the reason for our apostrophe when used to indicate possession (it’s also used as a contraction – SO confusing).
Apparently, old(e) English spelled possession with an “es” at the end of words, e.g. “The kinges throne.” That spelling looks like it would require saying two syllables, so . . . over time, we deleted the “e” and inserted the apostrophe to indicate a missing letter and now say that two-syllable word as a word with just one syllable.
Like THERE’S! Even when referring to a plural noun!!! AGHH. . . 🤔😭
Didn’t know about the apostrophe! Pretty cool.
I agree! This history makes it easier for me to remember, understand, and explain the apostrophe, knowing that the apostrophe is a mark to indicate one or more missing letters – not just for contractions, but also for possessive words!