There (be)

Present Simple (There is /are)
+ There is a (единственное число)
There are some (множественное число) +, - , ? a / an ед. ч.
- There is not a (единственное число)
There are not any (множественное число) + some мн. ч., неисчис.
? Is there a …? (единственное число) - , ? any мн. ч., неисчис.
Are there any …? (множественное число)

Past Simple. (There was/were)
+ there was a (единственное число)
there were some (множественное число)
- there was not a (единственное число)
there were not any (множественное число)
? Was there a …? (единственное число)
Were there any …? (множественное число)

Future Simple. (There will be)
+ there will be a (единственное число)
there will be some (множественное число)
- there won’t (will not) be
? Will there be …?

Exercise 1. Put is or are into the gaps.
1. There ___ some people in the office. 2. There ____ a word processor. 3. There ____ a telephone on the table. 4. There ____ not any flowers in the classroom. 5. There ____ not any Chinese students in our group. 6. There ____ not a video recorder here. 7. Today there ____ a lot of cars and there ____ not much peace and quiet in our village. 8. There ___ some interesting articles in this newspaper. 9. There __ not any students in the classroom. It is empty.

Exercise 2. Put was, were or will be into the gaps.
1. There ___ many students at the lecture yesterday. 2. There ____ not any sport centres in our town last year. 3. There ____ a few colonies on Mars in the future. 4. There ____ a modern computer class at our faculty next year. 5. There ____ a few English students at the party last night. 6. There ____ not any high buildings in my native town fifty years ago. 7. There ____ not many cars and there ___ not much noise in our village forty years ago. 8. There ___ not any computers a hundred years ago.

Exercise 3. Put was, were or will be into the gaps.
1. There ___ not many tourists in Novosibirsk a year ago. 2. There ___ two lectures tomorrow. 3. There ___ trains a hundred years ago, but there ___ not any mobiles phones. 4. ___ there any telephone calls for me yesterday? 5. There ___ some colonies on Mars in the year 2050. 6. I don’t think there ___ any wars in the future. 7. In (через) ten years there ___ some new plants in this region. 8. There ___ a letter on my table yesterday evening.

Exercise 4. Complete the sentences with some, any or a/an.
1. Are there ____ German students in your class? 2. There are ____ dictionaries in the cupboard. 3. There are ____ pens on the table. 4. Are there ____ trees near the university? 5. Is there ___ cafe? 6. There isn’t ____ armchair here, but there are ___ chairs. 7. Are there ____ textbooks? 8. Downstairs there was ___ small kitchen and ____ beautiful dining-room. 9. Were there ___ bedrooms upstairs? 10. There will be ____ exchange students at our university next term. 11. Were there ___ young engineers in your office last year? 12. There was ___ large dining-room in his grandparents’ house.

Exercise 5. Translate from Russian into English using ‘there be’.
1. Кто в этой комнате? 2. Какие книги были на полке? 3. Какие тексты в этом учебнике? 4. В нашей семье трое детей. 5. Наша квартира большая. В ней две комнаты и кухня. 6. Что лежит на столе? – Ручка и карандаш. 7. Вечером в парке не было детей. 8. На нашем заводе будет врач. 9. В моей компании будет три новых менеджера в следующем году. 10. На моем столе нет документов.