We use there is and there are to say that something exists.

Positive Sentences

We use there is for singular and there are for plural.

• There is one table in the classroom.

• There are three chairs in the classroom.

• There is a spider in the bath.

• There are many people at the bus stop.

We also use There is with uncountable nouns:

• There is milk in the fridge.

• There is some sugar on the table.

• There is ice cream on your shirt.

Contractions

The contraction of there is is there's.

• There's a good song on the radio.

• There's only one chocolate left in the box.

You cannot contract there are.

• There are nine cats on the roof.

• There are only five weeks until my birthday.

Negative Form

The negative is formed by putting not after is or are:

• There is not a horse in the field.

• There are not eight children in the school.

• There is not a tree in the garden.

• There are not two elephants in the zoo.

We almost always use contractions when speaking.

The Negative contractions are:

• There's not = There isn't

• There are not = There aren't

There aren't with ANY

When we want to indicate that a zero quantity of something exists we use there aren't any.

• There aren't any people at the party.

• There aren't any trees in my street.

We also use this structure with uncountable nouns:

• There isn't any water in the swimming pool.

• There isn't any sugar in my coffee.

Questions

To form a question we place is / are in front of there.

Again we use any with plural questions or those which use uncountable nouns.

We also use there is / are in short answers.

• Is there a dog in the supermarket? - No, there isn't.

• Are there any dogs in the park? - Yes, there are.

• Is there a security guard in the shop? - Yes, there is.

• Are there any polar bears in Antarctica? - No, there aren't.

• Is there any ice-cream in the freezer? - Yes, there is.

How Many with Are There

If we want to find out the number of objects that exist we use How many in the following form:

How many + plural noun + are there (+ complement).

• How many dogs are there in the park?

• How many students are there in your class?

• How many countries are there in South America?

• How many Star Wars films are there?

EXERCISES:

wordwall.net/es/resource/32865427/english/there-is-there-are-someany 

www.liveworksheets.com/w/en/english-second-language-esl/53922