Here and There

When a sentence begins with these phrases, the subject of the sentence is the thing or things that are there or here. For instance,

There is a dog which is dead in the road.
(What is on the road? What is there? Answer: a dog is)

There are a dog and a cat which are dead on the road.
(What is on the road? What is there? Answer: a dog and a cat are)

The best solution is often to eliminate the there phrase by making the thing(s) that is(are) there the subject of the sentence and removing a relative pronoun to free a verb to be the verb in the new independent clause or changing a verbal into a verb (eliminate what appears in brackets below).

[There is] A dog [which] is dead in the road.
[There are] Many things happen[ing] in Sweetwater.

ENGL1010 Composition I