ESL Blogs

Hi, my friends! As the rainy weather spoiled all our plans for today, I will go on teaching you a little.

Well, looking through your answers on the previous grammar tests, I noticed that some of you are not sure whether to use IT IS or THERE IS in this or that sentence. It is really surprising as it is not even the intermediate level, it is basic. Anyway, we use both constructions very often and you should know how to do it correctly.

SO, IT IS is mostly followed by an adjective:

It is windy.

It is important to know that.

Here, IT is a subject. Sure, it is pro forma, as it means nothing. But we all know there MUST be a subject in ANY English sentence.

IT IS may be followed by a noun phrase if we speak about time or distance.

It is Sunday today.

It is winter.

It is early morning now.

It is 30 miles from here to the nearest city.

IT IS may be also followed by an objective pronoun, a personal name:

It was him who told me about that.

It is Tom who has to do it.

Now, let’s consider THERE IS. It is a construction with the inverted word order, like in a question. IS/ARE is a predicate and is followed by a subject, i.e., a noun phrase. THERE is not a subject in such a sentence.

There is a strong wind outside.

Here, IS is a predicate, WIND is a subject.

So, THERE IS/ARE is always followed by a noun phrase:

There is a possibility of buying this house.

There are many people on the street.

There was no answer.

Sometimes, we can express the same mind using both constructions. It depends on the part of speech we are going to use:

It is cloudy today (adjective).

There are many clouds in the sky (noun).

It is unnecessary to meet me (adjective).

There is no need to meet me (noun).

As it is “a lesson”, you all can ask me your questions. And I’d like to believe that after reading it, you will easily do this exercise.

Insert IT or THERE.

1. ___ is nowhere to go in this town.
2. ___ is the end of January now.
3. Is___ cheaper to travel by bus or by train?
4. The colder ___ is, the worse she feels.
5. Is ____ any excuse for me?
6. ___ is nothing to say.
7. ___ is her who is in charge of the office.
8. Is ___ rainy today?
9. Is ___ much rain in your area?
10. ___ is too much for me.

There is no deadline for this test, just learn these easy rules!