Language/English/Grammar/There-is-or-There-are?

There is confusion among many learners, and even a few native English speakers, about when to use 'there is' or 'there are'. Here is a short explanation.

Firstly, note that we use ”There” to tell someone that we are describing the position or existence of something.

'There is a book on the table.' - 'is' is used here to describe the position/existence of a single item, 'a book'.

'There are books on the table' - 'are' tells us that there is plural or more than one item we are describing the position of or existence, in this case 'books'.

BUT!

'There is a book and pens on the table.' - we use 'is' because the first item in the list is singular, 'a book'.

and

'There are books and a pen on the table.' - we use 'are' because the first item in the list is plural, 'books'.

Also, using 'book' as the subject of the sentence tells us something different from using 'There is'/'There are':

'Books are on the table.' and 'There are books on the table' communicate different things.

'Books are on the table.' gives the emphasis that 'Books' are our primary focus. The location of 'Books' is secondary to the object 'Books'.

”There are books on the table.” - our primary concern is on the position (and perhaps even introducing the existence) of ;Books' .

'There was' and 'There were' are the simple past forms of 'There is' and 'There are', e.g.

'There was a book on the table.'

'There were books on the table.'