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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Explanation needed.
Explanation needed.
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Maja O.
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Explanation needed.
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Hi,
I need your help. I sometimes use the page www.elllo.org to give some listening to my students. I found there the dialogue between an American man and a girl from New Zealand. And I have no explenation for this sentence which is taken from there. The girl says :
"There �s a lot of sheep in New Zealand and there �s a lot of cattle as well,..."
Could you help me ? Why does she use there is instead of there are ? Is it grammatically okay? Thank you for all your answers.
Have a nice day. |
8 Jan 2011
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ELOJOLIE274
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hi,
in that case, sheep and cattle refer to a group of animals, but because it is a "group" it �s singular. just like "the police was called..."
have a nice week-end!
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8 Jan 2011
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Ania Z
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hello,
it �s correct. �sheep � and �cattle � in both cases are plural nouns. but they refer to �a group of animals�. It�s one of a number of words that don�t change form in the plural. One sheep, two sheep, three sheep...Plural of sheep is sheep as plural of hair is hair.
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8 Jan 2011
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...Alena...
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Hello,
is it correct to say "sheep are white", "fish are in aquarium"? Thanks in advance.
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8 Jan 2011
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almaz
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The key expression is �a lot � (not sheep or cattle) although it often depends whether the following noun is countable or not. You could use either there is or there are with �a lot of � sheep and cattle but obviously you wouldn �t use there are in a sentence like �there �s a lot of blues (jazz/rock - music in general) in ----- �s latest album �
Actually, we �ve been here lots of times before. Here �s something which was discussed just yesterday.
@Alena, not all sheep are white; not all fish live in aquariums (or �aquaria � for you prescriptivists out there)
BTW: I remember being told that �there �s an awful lot of coffee in Brazil �. Is this still true? |
8 Jan 2011
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Maja O.
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Thank you so much for all your answers. They were a great help.
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9 Jan 2011
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