there's

The everyday workhorse of the set. Existential there and is are reduced to one sound, announcing that something exists, physical or abstract: a strange guy across the room, or far too much attention. One construction is worth learning whole. There's no + an -ing verb (there's no arguing with me) means the action is pointless. The same 's can also stand for has, are, was or does, so the next word tells you which one you are reading.

Here the 's is the auxiliary of the perfect, and it almost always sits right before been: there's been an accident, there's been a rise in prices. That word is your test. Before been, read has. Before a noun, read the "there is" contraction. Spelling and sound are identical, so position is the only clue.

The singular form doing plural work, and one of the most common slips in spoken English. John Lennon uses it before a plural noun in "Imagine" (1971), picturing a world without nations. The grammar often gives itself away in a tag question: there's some chairs in the garage, aren't there? The plural returns as soon as the verb stands alone. It is natural in speech and song. In careful writing, use there are.

A present-tense spelling carrying past-tense meaning. It stands for there was, the simple past singular of there be. The past time comes from elsewhere in the sentence, from words like last night or back when, and the present-looking form gives the story a vivid, told-aloud feel. It belongs to casual narration. In writing that needs to be read precisely, spell out there was.