There’s a cat and a dog over there

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

There is/are a cat and dog over there.

Can either verb be used in the sentence?

Thanks.

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There is a cat and a dog over there.

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4

There’s a cat and a dog over there.

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Since a cat and a dog cannot be treated as singular, I would say: There are a cat and a dog over there.
The other two answers are in favour of the singular verb.
@Torsten and @Arinker may please justify how it is possible. Thank you.

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6

The sentence is a shortened form of “There is a cat and there is a dog over there.”

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“Why” is always a difficult question to answer.

“A cat and a dog” would be plural and so should take “are” according to the rules.

But, “There are a cat…” is very awkward to say. You could alternatively say “A dog and a cat are over there.” Here, as you’re speaking, you’re clearly establishing the plural subject before getting to your verb.

“There’s a cat and a dog…” is far easier to say. One source I saw online distinguishes “there’s” from “there is”. “There is” would require a singular subject, but “there’s” is used as a simple existential statement that doesn’t distinguish between single and plural. I definitely agree with this comment.

Another source defines “there’s” as a non-standard contraction for “there are”.

For informal usage, I would probably use “there’s” even in obvious plural situations:
“There’s 37 cats next door.”
Here, “are” would certainly work and provide more emphasis to the specific number. I would NOT use “There is 37 cats next door.”

In a formal situation, I would re-word the sentence to avoid the correct, but odd, “There are a cat…”.

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