Is "there're" (similar to "there's") a correct contraction?

Question

Q: "Do you have any juice?"
A: "Yes, there's some in the fridge."

Sounds perfectly fine to me, but:

Q: "Do you have any towels?"
A: "Yes, there's some in the closet."

Does not.

I asked for towels - plural - so wouldn't "Yes, there're some in the closet," in which there are is turned into a contraction be the correct way to say it?

Spellcheck, however, doesn't like "there're", and I think I'm the only person I've ever heard use the word "there're". Even folks who I know say "there are" shorten it to "there's" when possible.

Am I saying it wrong, or are both forms acceptable?

Answer 1

There're is common in speech, at least in certain dialects, but you'll rarely see it written. If I were being pedantic, I'd advise you to use there are in your example, because there is is definitely wrong, so there's could be considered wrong as well. But a huge number of English speakers, even those that are well-educated, use there's universally, regardless of the number of the noun in question, so you will probably not receive any odd looks for saying or writing there's, and if you do, just cite the fact that it can't be incorrect if a majority of people use it. As for me (a native New Englander), I use both, but may use there's in place of there're if I'm speaking quickly.

Answer 2

I don't think "there're" is ever going to fly -- it's not so much a contraction as a simple elision. The only thing being dropped is a glottal stop, which isn't a "real" sound in English.

From a strict prescriptivist grammar and usage standpoint, "there's" used with a plural is wrong. But in spoken language (which is the real language, squiggles on pages and screens are no more than an approximate rendering) we need to be careful with prescriptivist tendencies. It may offend the grammarian's ear, but the fact that a very large number of native speakers -- likely a preponderance of them -- make exactly the same "mistake" indicates that there is something else going on.

Remember that the rules of English, as we received them in school, are only an approximation of the real rules of the language, and that many of those rules were imposed in the 18th and 19th centuries by well-meaning scholars who aimed to make English a respectable, consistent and properly-documented language. It has never been such.

Answer 3

Here's my guess:

Contracting "there is" to "there's" usefully reduces the number of syllables.

Contracting "there are" to "there're" wouldn't. So it isn't done.

If I reach for a shorter way to say "There are some in the closet", my mind produces "They are in the closet" (favouring utility over accuracy).

Obviously it would help to know how you pronounce each of "there are" and your "there're". Perhaps we should both study IPA for a few minutes?

Answer 4

1) "juice" in the first question is a noncount noun, thus you will answer with "some" or similar modifier "little" etc.

And it is perfectly acceptable to say and write, "there's"

2) For the second question, if you have but one towel, it is perfectly OK to say,

"Yes, there's one in the closet."

If there are more — since you are conversing, I am assuming not communicating in writing. It makes no difference. The contractions are not visible in speech.

If you are communicating in writing with a hearing impaired person very particular about the usage of English language.

You would be better off writing "There are" because the contraction of "there are" — as you describe it — does not exist, or it is substandard English.

Answer 5

In the first sentence you wrote, you use there is because the answer is read as

Yes, there is some juice in the fridge.

In the second sentence you wrote, you use there are because the answer read as

Yes, there are some towels in the closet.

I use there're when I write, and the spell checker doesn't mark it as not correct. In some cases, when I use a contraction, the spell checkers underlines it in green, and it reports me that the word could not match the rest of the sentence; I think it happens when the contraction is used for different words, and the spell checker is not able to understand what I mean.

To notice that juices can have a meaning different from juice, as juices is used also to refer to the liquid that comes out from the meat when it is cooked, or the fluid secreted from the body (e.g., the stomach).