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ESL forum > Ask for help > grammar question    

grammar question





yanogator
United States

Aquarius gave us a little riddle there. It �s not true that there �s and there is are different in meaning, but they are different in usage, which is what aquarius is saying.
 
As we �ve already said, the correct way to say this is "There are a hundred students in the college". You can see that clearly if you use the numeral instead of the word: "There are 100 students in the college." (Think of "one hundred" as if it were a single word, like "twenty", and "is" will make sense). However, in speech, many people would say "There �s a hundred students in the college", but not "There is a hundred students in the college." Formally, There �s is wrong here, but in everyday speech it �s common.
 
Bruce

27 Mar 2010     



magneto
Greece

The correct answer is (c)- "a hundred", because you have the word "exactly" in the sentence, which means you need to use a specific number. It could also be "a thousand", but in answer (a) the article is omitted. If "exactly" wasn �t there, you could also say "thousands of" or "hundreds of".

27 Mar 2010     



adital
Israel

Sorry for misleading, thinking about it again, Lindsey (and the others too) you were correct. the answer is c. Wacko
Since we �re talking about the students it has to be: there are and not there is.

27 Mar 2010     



aquarius_gr
Greece

Exactly Bruce! It is very common in spoken English and used inadvertently. So common actually that I �ve even seen it tested in grammar exercises. 

27 Mar 2010     

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