THERE + TO BE

You should always bear in mind that Portuguese and English are two different languages and, therefore, they have different ways of expressing things.

Something that has constantly caused confusion is the construction: "there + to be"

I mean, it's easy to read something like: "there is a book on the table"

Still, most students tend to use the verb HAVE or HAPPEN instead of the construction "there + to be". See some common mistakes below:

- Have a good movie on TV tonight. WRONG

- Happened an accident on the road. WRONG

Check out the correct sentences:

- There will be a good movie on TV tonight. (expressing existence)

- There was an accident on road. (expressing occurrence)

This construction always indicates EXISTENCE or OCCURRENCE. Its conjugation will be based on the verb to be. Check out some other examples:

- There are shows in SP every weekend.

- There are going to be hundreds of athletes in the Pan American Games.

- There might be some trouble in the traffic downtown.

- There hasn't been any improvement in the project.

- How many on-the-job accidents were there last year?

- There shouldn't be so many people at the party because of the location.

Don't forget to use THERE + TO BE whenever you think about EXISTENCE or OCCURRENCE! If you have any kind question, click on the word comments below.

Best wishes,

André