密歇根新闻广播 名词复数前使用there's的原因

 

There's examples all over the the place of people using "there's" before a plural¹ noun. In fact, we just gave you one.

A listener named Bill from Kalamazoo recently wrote to us about this. He's noticed all kinds of people, including broadcasters, using "there's" in front of words that refer to multiple things such as "thousands" or "many" instead of using "there are."

He says, "As an old guy, it drives me crazy. Especially when said by a 'professional' who should know better."

Bill, all we can say is guilty as charged.

That's not to say we ignore all rules of plural agreement. We're definitely fans of there of "there are." The distinction between the two seems to come down to conversational² style vs. written.

On the printed page, something like "there's thousands of reasons not to go" definitely looks a bit off. Plenty of us would certainly strike "there's" and replace it with "there are."

But close your eyes for a moment and imagine a spoken conversation with a friend that includes that same sentence. Would you even notice? Be honest.

The "there" that comes at the beginning of a sentence is what linguists³ call the "existential there." It allows us to take what we're talking about and put it in the second half of a sentence.

"The reason we do that is we like to put important information or new information into the second half of a sentence," says English Professor Anne Curzan. "Existential there lets us bump that information out."

Next comes the question of agreement. Theoretically, the noun that comes after "there" governs the agreement. A singular noun merits singular agreement: "there is one." A plural noun merits plural agreement: "there are two."

That seems pretty simple, but things get complicated once contractions⁴ enter the picture. Most of us wouldn't say "there is thousands" in conversation. On the other hand, "there's thousands" doesn't sound odd at all. It just sounds conversational.

In 2005 William Crawford, an English professor at Northern Arizona University, did a study on verb agreement and disagreement. He found that in written, edited prose, the "there's + plural" is almost always edited out. However, in spoken conversation, both casual and formal, he found that "there's + plural" is all over the place -- including academic lectures and NPR.

Crawford thinks this has to do with the demands of processing language in real time. In other words, when we're speaking and trying to get information out in real time, it's easier to simply say "there's" and not worry about whether what comes next is singular or plural.

What about you? Are you team "there's" or team "there are" when it comes to plurals⁵? Let us know [email protected]@umich.edu.

1 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

2 conversational   

adj.对话的，会话的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
• She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。

3 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句

4 contractions   

n.收缩( contraction的名词复数 )；缩减；缩略词；（分娩时）子宫收缩

参考例句：

• Contractions are much more common in speech than in writing. 缩略词在口语里比在书写中常见得多。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Muscle contractions are powered by the chemical adenosine triphosphate(ATP ). 肌肉收缩是由化学物质三磷酸腺苷(ATP)提供动力的。 来自辞典例句

5 plurals   

n.复数，复数形式( plural的名词复数 )

参考例句：