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Grammar and Linguistics > There isn ´t or there aren ´t
There isn ´t or there aren ´t

gabrielaalonso9
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There isn ´t or there aren ´t
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Hello!!! I have a doubt regarding the use of there isn ´t and there aren ´t in this sentence:
There isn ´t any pen in my pencil case. There aren ´t any pens in my pencil case.
In the first sentence we have is and singular pen, so that ´s right, but I think we can ´t use any followed by a singular noun. So, the sentence is not right?
I think that the right sentence is the second one, and you?
Please answer my doubt.
Thanks a lot!!!
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1 Mar 2010
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Mariethe House
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There isn �t a pen .... or: damn, there isn ´t one single pen in my pencil case!
There aren ´t any pens in my....
Any can ´t be used with countable singular nouns.
Hope it helps! Wait for Zora!! She will have a better answer!!
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1 Mar 2010
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coyote.chus
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There aren ´t any pens or There isn ´t a pen
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1 Mar 2010
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zoemorosini
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There isn ´t a pen/There is no pen = I don ´t have a pen, although someone expected me to have one or expected there to be one. There isn ´t any pen = There are no ink marks. There aren ´t any pens = I don ´t have any pens (plural), but someone expected me to or expected there to be some.
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2 Mar 2010
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