singular or plural?

Guest   Sun Jun 08, 2008 3:52 pm GMT
Hello,

What would you say:
At that time, there was no shops.
Or, there were no shops.
Thanks for your help, it's really confusing for me.
Upstater   Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:07 pm GMT
At that time, there were no shops.
meshal   Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:14 pm GMT
hallo iwent speak english very will
meshal   Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:15 pm GMT
hallo mestar upstater > are you here ?
Guest   Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:27 pm GMT
<<hallo mestar upstater > are you here ?>>

No -- I'm upstate.
Skippy   Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:03 pm GMT
You should say "there WERE no shops," but this rule is often ignored in spoken language. Although it sounds slightly weird, "there was no shops" is said frequently.
Upstater   Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:08 am GMT
<<"there was no shops" is said frequently. >>

I don't recall too often upstate. Howerer, what you might hear is " At this time there's no shops.", for some reason.