2 There + has/have been

Both There has/have been are used to talk about a situation that started in the past and lasted to the present day.

We usually find this structure in its three forms:

Singular:
There + has + be (past participle)

Plural:
There + have + be (past participle)

*Short version of the Negative form is: “Hasn’t, Haven’t”.

Singular:

• There has been an accident on New Year’s Eve.
• There hasn’t been an accident on New Year’s Eve.
• Has there been an accident on New Year’s Eve?

Plural:

• There have been duplicated pictures of him.
• There haven’t been duplicated pictures of him.
• Have there been duplicated pictures of him?

We use the structure There has/have been in sentences to confirm (when Affirmative), deny (when Negative) or check (when Interrogative) that something existed in the past and continued in the present.

We can use There has/There have been in their Affirmative form to confirm, in their Negative form to deny and their Interrogative forms to check that something existed in the past.

We use There has been with singular nouns and There have been to talk about plural nouns.

• Affirmative: There has been/have been + complement (e.g. There has been a strange trend lately. / There have been many earthquakes in this century.);
• Negative: There hasn’t been/haven’t been + complement (e.g. There hasn’t been a strange trend lately. / There haven’t been many earthquakes in this century.);
• Interrogative: Has/Have there been + complement + (?) (e.g. Has there been a strange trend lately? / Have there been many earthquakes in this century?).

For example:
— “There has been a strange trend lately.” = To talk about “trend” which is a singular noun we use “There has been“.
— “Have there been many earthquakes in this century?” = Earthquakes are plural, that is why we use “There have been“.

Let’s revise this content within the [Form] section. Take a look at the [Example] section that shows its use within a context.