[Grammar] There is/are a man and a woman at the door. (please read fully )

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Advanced English grammar by Martin Hewings quotes,"if the noun phrase consists of two or more nouns in a list, we use a singular verb if the first noun is singular or uncountable, and a plural verb if the first noun is plural"
"Example- When i opened the fridge there was only a bottle of milk, some eggs, and butter."

Based on the above explanation, There is a man and a woman at the door should be write. But I think it is not. So what point am I missing in the above quote?

 

[jutfrank]

If I understand correctly, you're missing Hewings' main point. He's talking about cases where there is a conflict. That is, when one noun is singular and the other is plural.

In your example, both man and woman are singular, so his rule doesn't apply.

There's a man and two women at the door.
There are two women and a man at the door.

 

[jutfrank]

I've just re-read the OP and I see now that I missed the point. It doesn't actually matter if there's a conflict. The rule still applies.

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

So what is the conclusion?
Does "The rule still applies" mean that "There is a man and a woman at the door" correct instead of "There are a man and a woman at the door"?

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I found a relevant post.

A sentence like 'There are a man and a woman waiting to see you' is grammatical, but I cannot imagine many native speakers coming out with it.

 

[emsr2d2]

Unless it's particularly relevant, we don't necessarily specify the gender of people who are waiting for someone. I would accept all of the following in BrE:

- There's a man waiting to see you.
- There's a woman waiting to see you.
- There's someone waiting to see you.
- There are two people waiting to see you.
- There's two people waiting to see you. ("There's + plural noun" is used extensively in BrE. I don't recommend using it in exams.)

If the two people were a man and a woman, I would only make that clear if asked.

John: There are two people waiting for you.
Sarah: Who are they?
John: No idea. They wouldn't give their names. It's a man and a woman.