ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: There is/are a book, a pen and a pencil on the table.

Viceidol — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:04:45 GMT

Thank you, Mr.Micawber. I understand now.

Re: There is/are a book, a pen and a pencil on the table.

Mister Micawber — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:28:01 GMT

.
You are safer to go with the plural. 'There is A, B and C' is acceptable by some because the speaker is coming upon the objects one by one; 'A. B and C is' clearly unacceptable, because it has a plural subject.

There is/are a book, a pen and a pencil on the table.

Viceidol — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:32:21 GMT

There are a book, a pen and a pencil on the table.

There is a book, a pen and a pencil on the table.

Is it possible that both of the above examples are acceptable?

A book, a pen and a pencil are on the table.

A book, a pen and a pencil is on the table.

Is it also possible that both of the above examples are acceptable? I guess the last sentence is definitely wrong.

What do you think? Thank you for your answer!