A famous painter

Today the artist Vincent van Gogh is very famous, but he was never famous during his life.

Vincent was Dutch. His family was from a small village in the Netherlands. His brother, Theo, was a very important person in his life. Vincent was usually poor, but his brother always helped him with money.

Vincent was always good at painting, but he had many different jobs. He worked for an art company, and in a bookshop, and he was a teacher. He was interested in religion, and he wanted to study theology, but he wasn't a very good student. When he was 27 he started to work as a painter. He lived in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, where he was with his friend, the painter Paul Gaugin. But Vincent was never really happy, and he was often not well. When he was only 37, he ended his life.

When Vincent was alive, he wasn't famous and his paintings weren't popular. Today his pictures are very expensive, and you can see them in art galleries all over the world.

Оборот there is (there are)

Предложения с вводным there сообщают о наличии или существовании лица или предмета в каком-либо определенном месте.

Вводное there в предложении является формальным подлежащим, которое вводит сказуемое. После оборота there is/are исчисляемые существительные в единственном числе употребляются с неопределенным артиклем. Во множественном числе существительные употребляются без артикля.

В случае наличия в предложении более одного существительного сказуемое согласуется с первым из них.

There is a newspaper and some magazines on the table. – На столе газета и несколько журналов.

There are some magazines and a newspaper on the table. – На столе несколько журналов и газета.

Перевод таких предложений обычно начинается с обстоятельства (места или времени), причем оборот there is на русский язык зачастую не переводится.

There is a book on the desk. – На письменном столе (лежит, находится) книга.

There is a lot of snow in winter. – Зимой много снега.

Сказуемым в предложении такого типа может быть не только глагол to be, но также модальные глаголы (can, may, must, ought to) и ряд других глаголов (to live, to exist, to stand, to lie, to come).

There must be a dictionary on the shelf. – На полке должен быть словарь.

There exist different opinions on this problem. – Существуют различные мнения об этой проблеме.

Present Simple	Past Simple	Future Simple
There is a book in the bag.   There are some books in the bag.	There was a book in the bag.   There were some books in the bag.	There will be a book in the bag.   There will be some books in the bag.
There is not (isn’t) a book in the bag.   There are not (aren’t) any books in the bag.	There was not (wasn’t) a book in the bag.   There were not (weren’t) any books in the bag.	There will not (won’t) be a book in the bag.   There will not (won’t) be any books in the bag.
Is there a book in the bag?   Are there any books in the bag?	Was there a book in the bag?   Were there any books in the bag?	Will there be a book in the bag?   Will there be any books in the bag?