There is, there are.

Understanding the there + to be construction.

The basics - structure:

There is (for singular and uncountable nouns) and there are (plural nouns) tells us about the existence of things. The structure is there + to be in affirmative sentences:

There is a spider on the chair.
There is tomato sauce on your shirt.
There are lots of green plants in the patio.

The interrogatives, negatives and contractions are constructed as with the personal pronouns and the verb to be and often used with some and any:

Is there a seat free?
Is there any time for another beer?
Are there any bats in this cave?
There isn't / there's not a pencil by the phone.
There's isn't / there's not any ice-cream in the fridge.
There's a thing I want to say.
There's some water on the kitchen floor.
There're some beautiful new skirts in Harrod's.

There + to be with tenses and modes.

This structure is very flexible and can be used with all modal auxiliaries and tenses. It is important to remember that the verb to be must always be present in all combinations. Below, is a list of some of the possible there + to be combinations:

There is / There are (there's / there're)
There will be (there'll be)
There will not be (there won't be)
There is going to be (there's going to be)
There are going to be (there're going to be)
There is not going to be (there's not going to be, there isn't going to be)
There are not going to be (there're not going to be, there isn't going to be)
There was / There were
There was not (there wasn't) / There were (there weren't)
There used to be
There did not used to be (there didn't used to be)
There may be / There might be / There could be
There may not be / There might not be (there mightn't be)
There would be
There wouldn't be
There would have been
There would not have been (there wouldn't have been)
There have been
There have not been (there haven't been)
There has been
There has not been (there hasn't been)
There should be
There should not be (there shouldn't be)
There should have been (thud've been)
There should not have been (there shouldn't have been)

There + to be and groups of people or objects.

There is, there are (and other combinations) + of + personal pronoun are used to describe how many people are in a group:

There were very few of us at the party.
There are six of us in our family including me.
There were about twenty of them jumping around the garden.
There would have been more of us if we'd known about the concert.

- Exercises on there is, there are...