Lesson 21: Teacher Guide & Master Solutions
Existential Concord • Expletive "There" Syntax
The Expletive "There" Construction:
In English, "There" is an expletive (dummy pronoun). It has no number of its own. The grammatical number of the verb is determined by the true subject that follows. Young children intuitively look before the verb for the subject; this lesson trains them to scan ahead past the verb to locate the true subject and time cues.
Section A: Master Fill-in-the-Blank Solutions:
1. There is (or was) a star in the sky. [Subject: singular count noun a star].
2. There are (or were) flowers in the garden. [Subject: plural count noun flowers].
3. There were apples on the tree last summer. [Past time cue last summer + plural apples requires past plural were].
4. There has been no one here. [Subject: singular indefinite pronoun no one requires singular auxiliary has].
5. There have been many stormy days. [Subject: plural count noun many stormy days requires plural auxiliary have].
6. There are (or were) the happy children. [Subject: plural count noun the happy children].
7. There is (or was) grass in the field. [Subject: non-count mass noun grass takes singular verb].
8. There is (or was) an orange in the box. [Subject: singular count noun an orange].
9. There are (or were) ships on the water. [Subject: plural count noun ships].
Section B: Exemplar Student Statements (Accept equivalent compositions):
• There is a little bird sitting on the garden fence.
• There are three tall pine trees in our schoolyard.
| Evaluation Criterion |
Exemplary (4) |
Proficient (3) |
Developing (1-2) |
| Subject-Verb Agreement |
Accurately determines singular/plural for all 9 blanks, including mass noun grass. |
7-8 of 9 correct; minor difficulty with has/have been. |
Persistently chooses wrong verb number (e.g., *There is flowers). |
| Tense & Aspect Detection |
Recognizes last summer requiring were, and been requiring has/have. |
Correctly fills simple tense items; needs help on perfect aspect. |
Misses tense markers and aspectual auxiliaries. |
| Sentence Writing |
Original sentence beginning with There is/are with perfect noun concord. |
Complete sentence with minor capitalization or punctuation slip. |
Sentence fragment or subject-verb disagreement. |
| Mechanics & Handwriting |
Clean, legible writing on guidelines with proper spacing and end periods. |
Neat handwriting with 1 minor punctuation omission. |
Messy handwriting, untidy crossings out, missing periods. |