TOP 203: THERE – Everything You Need to Know

Hey there! This is TOP episode 203. THERE – Everything You Need to Know

I’m Ola, an English teacher with over a decade of teaching under my belt. I firmly believe that unlocking fluency is within your reach. In fact, the key to fluency is in your pocket. Imagine confidently speaking English, conquering your fears, and embracing effective communication.

To support you on your journey, I invite you to explore my website, where you’ll find transcripts and helpful worksheets for each episode. Just head over to teacherola.com and browse through my shop.

I’m here to guide you every step of the way. Let’s make speaking English enjoyable and fulfilling! Enjoy your journey to fluency! Happy learning!

Hello there! Thanks for tapping play! I have a huuuuuge request. I need your help. I want to create a brand new online course that’ll teach you how to become a confident speaker of English. But I have way too many ideas to put into this course. I need to narrow it down, well basically I would like you to go to teacherola.com/newsletter, join my newsletter and I’ll send you a survey that will immensely help me create a perfect course. Please go to teacherola.com/newsletter and become a member of TOPeople. Every week I’ll send one email with a speaking task that will push you to speak English. Please join us, get access to these Wednesday speaking lessons and complete a survey, thank you!! Once again, it’s teacherola.com/newsletter.

Learning “introductory there” can be difficult for us, Polish speakers learning English due to grammar differences. Polish lacks a similar structure for introducing existence or presence. Polish uses different sentence structures or word order to express existence. The absence of “there” in Polish adds to the difficulty. With some practice, we can overcome this challenge, but you have to buckle down, do the shadowing, repeat sentences and complete the Worksheet, ok? The worksheet is at teacherola.com/203. Let’s get to it!

An English sentence like:

An apple is on the table

is possible but uncommon. The natural way of putting it is to begin the sentence with an unstressed THERE and thus postpone the indefinite subject (an apple). Put an apple further in the sentence.

There’s an apple on the table.

This is called a sentence with introductory THERE. All main verb patterns can be turned into such sentences with THERE, so long as the subject is indefinite and the verb phrase contains BE. In other words, you can use introductory THERE in any sentence that contains a main verb, that has a non-specific object like: an apple, a pancake, a dog, a leg, a sandwich, a house and this sentence needs to contain the verb ‘be’. Ok, let;s practice a little. I’ll give you a phrase you have to change it so that it contains an introductory WHEN, ok? So I say a sentence, you change it, I tell you the correct answer and you repeat it:

One. A bus is coming.

…

There’s a bus coming.

Two. Something must be wrong.

…

There must be something wrong.

Three. Was anyone around?

…

Was there anyone around?

Four. Plenty of people are getting a promotion.

…

There are plenty of people getting a promotion.

Five. Two dogs have been digging in my garden.

…

There have been two dogs digging in my garden.

Six. Something is causing her fear.

…

There’s something causing her fear.

Seven. Too many people are trying to get inside.

…

There are too many people trying to get inside.

Eight. A vase has been stolen.

…

There’s been a vase stolen.

You may wanna ask now, hey Ola, why do we practice that, is it really that important in speaking? Well, I’m all about communication and fluency here, so I picked this topic cause I find it one – widely used by the speakers of English, and two – fairly problematic for us, Polish people learning English. It’s abstract, we don’t have such a structure and we tend to unconsciously avoid it. But you hear it everywhere every day, right? That’s why we have to practice using introductory THERE.

Introductory THERE differs from THERE as a front-placed adverb (There you are!) both in lacking stress and in behaving in most ways like the subject of the sentence. Let me give you more examples:

One. In informal English, THERE often determines concords so that the verb is singular even when the postponed subject is plural. Listen to this example:

There’s two students in the classroom.

This sentence is correct yet informal. If you need a formal register, use the regular plural form:

There are two students in the classroom.

Two. THERE can act as a subject in yes-no questions and tag questions. For instance:

Is there any more cake?

There’s nothing more, is there?

Three. THERE can act as subject in infinitive and -ing clauses. In these examples:

I don’t want to be there any fights.

He was surprised at there being so little to fix.

There’s another type of introductory THERE sentence which consists of THERE+BE+NOUN PHRASE+A CLAUSE which is like a relative clause. I know it all sound odd, but just listen to these examples:

Something keeps annoying him.

There’s something that keeps annoying him.

Is there anyone you want to speak to?

There is a book that I’ve been wanting to read.

There’s a person in our neighborhood who knows a lot about gardening.

Is there a restaurant nearby that serves delicious sushi?

Is there a website that provides helpful tips for language learning?

Another common sentence pattern with introductory THERE is: THERE+BE+NOUN PHRASE+TO-INFINITIVE CLAUSE:

There was no one for us to talk to.

There is a lot of work to be done before the deadline.

There are many places to visit in this city.

There is nothing left for us to discuss.

There are some books to read during the vacation.

There’s also another type which is most likely to occur in contexts where THERE is followed by a verb other than BE. Listen to these examples:

There may come a time when you will be afraid.

There exists a theory of parallel dimensions.

There flows a river through the heart of the bustling city.

There lies a hidden treasure deep within the forest.

Time for you to practice. I know it’s your favourite part, and you know it’s the key part of every episode. Listen and repeat out loud. Not in your head, not whispering, say them confidently.