There's a lot of old mines around here

Question

"There's a lot of old mines around here."

This is a line from the beginning of the movie Nevada Smith. I think the grammatically correct line is,

"There're a lot of old mines around here."

I think being grammatically correct does not necessarily mean being colloquially natural.

I wonder which is commoner, "There's a lot of old mines" or "there're a lot of old mines", colloquially speaking.

There's (note, not There is) is special. It's fine here. — Damkerng T., Jul 09 '16 at 22:54
@AlanCarmack That should be obvious if you read the last sentence that starts with "I wonder". — Makoto Kato, Jul 10 '16 at 00:04

Victor B. · Answer 1 · 2016-07-09T23:56:55.957

1

Regarding grammar rules, what doesn't work for writing or highly formal speaking may sometimes have no bearing on what is used for normal everyday speech. The fact is that the use of here's and there's' with plural nouns is extremely common and acceptable, informally. And of course, one should be wise to avoid them in careful, formal writing.

edited Jul 09 '16 at 23:56

answered Jul 09 '16 at 23:46

Victor B.

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You'll be one of those referenced by some prescriptivists are bound to take offense at this in the top answer to what I consider the original question then. – FumbleFingers Jul 10 '16 at 00:39

There's a lot of old mines around here

1 Answers1