Basics. Using there is/are and it in impersonal sentences.

Easy A1 | Elementary | Beginners Pronoun Grammatical number Questions Negation English Grammar Basics

There is/are and It

In English, impersonal sentences are often constructed using the pronoun "it" or the phrase "there is/are". Impersonal sentences are sentences in which the subject is not a specific person or thing, but rather an idea or a general concept. Impersonal sentences are often used to make general statements, give advice, or describe situations in a neutral and objective way.

There is/are

"There is/are" can be used to express different things. Some of them are listed below.

To show the presence of something: there are books on the shelf.
To express an event happening at a specific time: there is a party tonight.
To mention the number of parts in a whole: there are four chapters in the book.
For abstract items or situations: there is nothing on TV.
With uncountable nouns: there is milk in the fridge.
To express a quantity: there are a lot of people in the park.

Questions with there is/are are formed like this: is there a restaurant nearby? Are there any apples left?

The negatives are formed as follows: there isn't any sugar. There aren't any tickets available.

"There is/are" can be used with verb tenses other than present. See the examples below.

Use There was/were for past events: there was an accident yesterday. There were ten people at the meeting.
Use There has/have been for past events with present relevance: there has been a change in plans. There have been many complaints.
Use There will be for future events: there will be a meeting tomorrow.

It

Here are some common uses of "it" to form impersonal sentences.

For time and day: it's 3 o'clock. It's Friday.
For distance: it's 5 miles to the nearest town.
For weather: it's raining. It's hot today.

It's important to notice that there are other uses.

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Pronoun

✅ between you and me — ❌ between you and I (objective case after preposition)
✅ its colour — ❌ it's colour (it's = it is)
✅ She did it herself. — reflexive pronoun
✅ The person who called… — relative pronoun

Pronouns replace nouns: personal (I/me/my), demonstrative (this/that), relative (who/which/that), interrogative (who?/what?), reflexive (myself), indefinite (everyone/nobody). They carry case that nouns have lost.

Trap: pronouns are where English case still matters: I vs me, who vs whom, its vs it's. Get these wrong and it's instantly noticeable.

Grammatical number

✅ The data show… — ❌ The data shows… (traditionally plural)
✅ Each student has a book. — ❌ Each student have a book. (each = singular)
✅ The team is ready. (BrE: are also fine) — collective noun
✅ children, mice, teeth — irregular plurals (no -s)

Grammatical number = singular vs plural on nouns, pronouns, and verbs. Nouns usually add -(e)s; verbs must agree with their subject's number.

Trap: collective nouns (team, staff, data), quantifiers (each, every = singular; both, several = plural), and irregular plurals (children, criteria, phenomena) all cause agreement errors.

Questions

✅ Do you like coffee? — do-support (no existing auxiliary)
✅ Can she swim? — inversion (auxiliary before subject)
✅ Where does he live? — wh-question
✅ You're coming, aren't you? — tag question

Questions require inversion (auxiliary before subject) or do-support (add do/does/did). Types: yes/no (Do you…?), wh- (What/Where/When…?), negative (Don't you…?), tag (…isn't it?).

Rule: find the auxiliary. Move it before the subject. No auxiliary? Add do/does/did. Never use just intonation in written English (You like coffee? is not standard).

Negation

✅ I don't see anything. — ❌ I don't see nothing. (double negative in standard English)
✅ She never goes out. — never already negates (no doesn't needed)
✅ He doesn't like coffee. — do-support for negation
✅ Nobody came. — negative subject (no auxiliary needed)

Negation uses not after an auxiliary/modal, or do-support when there's no auxiliary. One negative per clause in standard English — never, nobody, nothing already negate without adding not.

Rule: one negative element per clause. I don't see anything or I see nothing — never both together in standard English.

English Grammar Basics

She is a teacher. — verb be + noun complement
He runs every day. — present simple, third-person -s
They don't like coffee. — negation with do-support
I have two cats. — possession, countable noun, no article before plurals

These sentences demonstrate English Grammar Basics — the foundational patterns every other topic builds on: parts of speech, basic tenses, articles, and simple sentence structure.

If you can identify the verb, the subject, and count the noun correctly, you've nailed the basics that make everything else click.

A1 | Elementary | Beginners

✅ My name is Anna. — present simple of be
✅ Where is the station? — basic *wh-*question
✅ I have two brothers. — possession with have
✅ She likes coffee. — third-person -s

These are A1 sentences — the starting level of the CEFR framework. At A1 you can introduce yourself, ask and answer simple personal questions, and handle basic everyday transactions using present tense, be/have/do, and core vocabulary.

If you can say these but freeze at normal speaking speed, you're solidly A1 — and that's exactly where to start.

Easy

She is a teacher. — one verb form, one rule
I have two cats. — basic possession, short sentence
He doesn't like coffee. — simple negation with do-support
Only one answer is clearly correct; distractors are obviously wrong.

Easy marks beginner-level challenges: A1–early A2, one rule at a time, everyday vocabulary, no trick questions.

Use "Easy" when you want to build confidence on a specific rule without interference from other grammar or tricky contexts.