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ESL forum > Ask for help > Help with the sentence    

Help with the sentence



gordana44
Croatia

Help with the sentence
 
Hello everyone!
 
Can anyone tell me if this sentence is correct?
 
In my town there are a library, a museum, a hotel and many banks.
 
Many thanks.

11 Sep 2012      





NanG
Argentina

Hi  gordana44 !

I would say In my town there IS a library, a museum, a hotel and THERE ARE many banks.

11 Sep 2012     



RileyR
Israel

I want to add that the reason you use IS in the first part is because there is only one library, one museum and only one hotel. What u did is taking three sentences that talks about something in singular and combining them together but you still talk about one thing. When u use "a bank" in a sentence, it always goes with there is a bank. a is only for singular. Than in the second part you have to add there are because you talk about more than one thing. I hope what I said makes sense...

11 Sep 2012     



yanogator
United States

I �m sorry to throw reality into the picture, but in the US, at least, we don �t follow this textbook rule in speaking. We think of it more as "In my town there are the following: a library, a museum, a hotel and many banks", so what we say is usually "In my town there are a library, a museum, a hotel and many banks". It actually sounds strange to American ears with "is". I don �t know what the practice is in other English-speaking countries.
 
Bruce

11 Sep 2012     



jannabanna
France

In England we say:  In my town there is a library, a museum, a hotel and many banks. It would be very strange to use "are".  See:
 

12 Sep 2012     



foose1
United States

Sorry Bruce,
   I don �t agree with you.  I say, "there is a library, a museum, a hotel and also many banks." 
Is sounds strange to me.  But then again, I am from Arizona. 
John

12 Sep 2012     



gordana44
Croatia

Thank you all to reply to my question. I understand the rule of there is and there are but in this sentence I was not sure what is the right sentence structure.

12 Sep 2012