Fix your grammar: IS or ARE - Common Mistakes & Grammar Rules

hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy in today's video I'm going to talk about when to use is and when to use are and this might seem very simple on the surface but you might be surprised by some of the ways we use these words and the mistakes that English speakers make with them should it be there is a lot of people or there are a lot of people should it be either day fine or either day is fine we're going to go all through this today now of course before we get started I want to remind you that there is a beautiful PDF to go with this video it contains the Full lesson summary we've simplified it into note form for you to make it really easy to revise from and of course I've written you a quiz so you can test your understanding if you'd like to download that just click on the link in the description box enter your name and your email address you sign up to my mailing list and the PD PDF will arrive directly in your inbox after that you will automatically receive all of my free weekly lesson PDFs plus my news course updates and offers it's a free service and you can unsubscribe at any time right let's get started with the lesson is or are well the simplest explanation of these words is that they are both present simple forms of the verb to be he she it is you we they are the dog is on the sofa the dogs are in the garden so far so simple right well let's talk about collective nouns with collective nouns and these are nouns that can refer to groups of people or things it does get a little bit more complicated in British English you can usually use is or are with collective nouns depending on how you think think of the group if you think of them as many individuals use R if you think of the group as one entity or one idea use is basically what I'm saying is in British English you can't really go too wrong whether you use is or are some examples the government are working on new policies in this case I'm thinking of each individual member another example our team is playing well today in that case I'm thinking of the team as a collective Force as one entity however in American English people usually prefer is the government is our team is there are some exceptions to this rule though we always use are after after the police in British and American English the police are investigating a serious crime and when collective nouns are followed by another plural noun we always use are my family are farmers the committee are artists one thing I want to say now though is that native speakers make mistakes with is or are or is and are all the time I do it myself and I'm sure I've done it in videos in fact people have probably pointed it out I'm giving you the rules so you're equipped with them but no one's going to misunderstand you if you use is instead of R don't worry about it don't let very strict grammar rules stand in the way of your confidence let's move on to some confusing sentences English Learners sometimes get confused by nouns that end in s these are often diseases or School subjects like measles MPS physics and maths disease is school subjects some examples measles is a nasty disease maths is pretty tricky now note that we say maths short for mathematics in British English in American English they tend to say math no s on the end so confusing is and R with math math in American English doesn't roll off my tongue is not as big a problem it's a bigger problem in British English because we say maths so it tricks you into thinking it's a plural okay so continuing with our confusing sentences I want to touch on compound subjects and this is when a sentence has more than one noun or pronoun as the subject when these nouns are joined by and they are followed by R it's easier to understand if I show you an example Rita and Ross are living in Kent at the moment so because the two nouns Rita and Ross are joined by and we use are Rita and Ross are living in Kent at the moment however if the subjects are joined by or the verb to be must match the last subject always remember it's the last Rita or Ross is working from home I can't remember who can you see the difference Rita and Ross are Rita or Ross is we're referring to the last noun Ross so it's is is another one we have the Joneses or the Smiths are my closest neighbors we're using are here because we're matching it with the last noun The Smiths okay now I want to look at one that I will admit I struggle with sometimes it doesn't come to my head before it comes out of my mouth there is and there are again it seems simple there is plus a singular or or uncountable noun there are plus a plural noun there is a cat sitting under my car singular noun let's try it with an uncountable there is some sugar in the cupboard an uncountable noun sugar and a plural there are four Golden Retrievers in the park Heaven they're my favorite dogs now we often use contractions with there is there's there's when you have a list of things beginning with there use is if the first thing in the list is singular and use R if the first thing in the list is plural this is the rule according to most but not all most modern course books and common usage there are apples peirs and a huge pumpkin for sale here the first item in the list is a plural noun so we use are there are apples it doesn't matter about the rest let's try a singular noun coming first there is a fast food place and two sandwich shops over there in informal speech we often use there is before plural nouns I do this and it's often because I'm speaking before I've properly thought my sentence through don't buy apples there's apples in the fridge that is something you'll find me saying do not do this in an exam or in formal writing but be aware that it's common some more examples there's a lot of people coming tonight there's a lot of people here there's a lot of people coming tonight or there's five students waiting to talk to the teacher is it super correct grammar no is it something you're going to hear probably now let's talk about body and one this sounds like a new yoga studio doesn't it body and one sorry I got distracted uh after indefinite pronouns like every everybody everyone or anybody and anyone you should use is everybody is going to help pack up the house is anyone hungry yet what about either and neither or either and neither spoiler we use both pronunciations either neither either neither just pick the one you prefer will what would you say either and neither or either and neither either and neither would you be either and neither say I either neither sometimes generally when used as determiners either and neither should be followed by a singular noun and then by is either restaurant is fine just make up your mind neither team is playing very well either or and neither nor can be followed by singular or plural nouns use is when the subjects are singular when the subjects are plural use R neither Diego nor Alfonso is happy when it's it's hot outside either Grand or grandpa is coming to watch the school play neither the cakes nor the biscuits are very tasty in informal language especially in British English you will hear some people use a with singular subjects neither my mom nor my dad are coming to watch the school play in fact that's something I think I would say myself again it's like with using their before plural nouns don't do this in an exam or a formal context now let's talk about either of and neither of I'm now totally overthinking how I pronounce these words I I just say both these phrases are usually followed by a determiner plus a plural noun or a pronoun after the phrase either of neither of you can use is or are neither of them is capable of fixing the fault neither of the referees are very good at their job okay that was a lot of information and I know grammar is particularly tiring so I think we should finish the lesson with a little quiz are you ready is or are there are five questions in total and I will give you five seconds to think number one physics a fascinating subject but unfortunately I had a bad teacher what do you think is or are is physics is just like maths number two the cats and dogs in the neighborhood always playful and friendly with each other what do you think is or are it's a the cats and dogs are number three either day fine for for me be it Saturday or Sunday that's quite Advanced at the end what do you think is or are it is either day is fine for me okay next one my family planning on coming to stay with me next weekend is or are okay this was a trick one it can be is or R in British English but it tends just to be is in American English and finally there various spices herbs and a selection of exotic teas at the local Bazaar is or r ah we look at the first in the list various spices plural so it's are there are various spices and the rest okay how did you do share your score out of five in the comment section I want to know if this lesson has worked if you've actually learned the difference between is and are don't worry if you find it difficult that's why we've created the free pdf so you can review and revise all of the information in the video and try another quiz to test your knowledge the link for that is in the description box as always I really hope you've enjoyed today's lesson if you like the way I teach and plan my videos and materials you will love my English courses visit englishwith lucy.com we've launched our B1 B2 and C1 programs and if I do say so myself they're really good the students love them look at all the lovely things they've had to say about them yes super proud of these courses and very excited for you to try them right I will see you soon in another video [Music] [Music]

Channel: English with Lucy

Views: 313,264

Keywords: #Grammar, #EnglishGrammar, #LearnEnglish

Id: EesQolfp9gQ

Length: 13min 18sec (798 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 04 2024