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Here are a few good affordable diners where I live.

If a speaker is in the place in which what they talk about is, they can use both 'here is' and 'there is' structures, can't they?

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  • I think a native speaker wouldn't phrase a sentence like that. It'd be more like "There are a few good affordable diners where I live." Or perhaps "Here are (a list of) a few good affortable diners where I live.", where here is referring to the list you're giving them.
    – jamesqf
    Nov 29, 2019 at 17:49

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This usage confuses the use of 'there' as a pronoun with its use as an adverb. This difference is described on MacMillanDictionaryOnline

In your sentence you're trying to substitute 'here' for 'there'. This works when 'there' is used as an adverb. In the following examples, 'here' and 'there' are adverbs modifying 'to have'.

We have a few good affordable diners there.
We have a few good affordable diners here.

In your example, with the word 'there' in that position, it is actually a pronoun for 'diners'. This is a common construction in English, particularly when the verb is 'to be'. another ways of writing what you're saying is

Where I live are a few good, affordable diners.

You don't hear sentences like this by themselves very often, though. This sounds like part of a longer idea and leaves the native speaker expecting something else. It sounds like you are introducing the idea of the diners so you can say more about them.

Where I live are a few good, affordable diners. I like to take my friends to them.

So, if you want to just state the existence of the diners as an idea by itself, you introduce the subject of the diners using the pronoun, 'there'.

There are a few good, affordable diners where I live.
Where I live, there are a few good affordable diners.

There is one context in which this construction will work. 'Here is/ here are' is used when pointing out something nearby, or giving someone an object to look at. You are looking at the place you live on a map or somehow pointing it out to someone, and you are telling them that there are a few good, affordable diners there, as a way of describing the place. Adding a comma to the sentence makes this meaning clear.

Here are a few good, affordable diners, where I live.

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  • I definitely heard 'here is/are'. When can this structure be used?
    – Sergey Zolotarev
    Nov 29, 2019 at 6:47
  • @SergeyZolotarev Please see my comment in the TypeIA's answer and let me know if it answers this question. If you were showing somebody your town on a map, you might say, 'Here, where I live, are a few good, affordable diners', Or, add a comma in your question to get the same thing, 'Here are a few, good affordable diners, where I live.' In this case they would have to be able to see where you live,
    – dwilli
    Nov 29, 2019 at 6:55
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    It would be nice if you included all of your answer in your answer itself instead of finishing it in the comments. Thanks for the clarification
    – Sergey Zolotarev
    Nov 29, 2019 at 7:07
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    Here is/are is used when pointing out something nearby, or giving someone an object to look at. "Here is the diner I told you about." "Here is a photo of my grandson."
    – Kate Bunting
    Nov 29, 2019 at 9:13
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    @SergeyZolotarev If the person was handing you a written list of diners, it would be appropriate to say "Here are some diners". But you need to be clear that when they say "Here are some diners", they are explicitly talking about the words written on that piece of paper and only that writing, not about the actual diners whose names are on the list. If they're talking about the diners as well, they would say "There are a few good affordable diners. Here is a list of them." or perhaps " "There are a few good affordable diners. Here they are. <handing over the list>"
    – Graham
    Nov 29, 2019 at 16:42
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No. Anytime a location is stated, we use "there is...," even when the location is the word "here":

  • There are a few diners where I live.
  • There are a few diners here.

"Here is" already includes a location, and no other can be specified. It presents or introduces something that should be visible or perceptible to the listener in the moment.

  • Here are a few diners. (Suggests you can see them, and are showing them to the listener.)
  • Here's your pizza.
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  • So if I'm writing, I can't use 'here is', can I? It's only for spoken speech, is it? It necessarily must be visible to the listener, mustn't it?
    – Sergey Zolotarev
    Nov 29, 2019 at 6:37
  • Yes, if the person you're talking to can see all of the diners, then it's the same as 'Here's your pizza'. But this is a different situation from the one in your question. In your question you're describing where you live, not showing somebody some diners. If you were showing somebody your town on a map, you might say, 'Here, where I live, are a few good, affordable diners', Or, add a comma in your question to get the same thing, 'Here are a few, good affordable diners, where I live.' In this case they would have to be able to see where you live,
    – dwilli
    Nov 29, 2019 at 6:53
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Here are in "Here are a few good affordable diners where I live." is being used deictically. That basically means referentially.

Another example: Here come the players! [out of the stadium locker room]

It implies you are pointing to or otherwise indicating the diners, on a map, for example.

Deixis in English can get very complicated.

COMPARE here is/are to there is/are

There is/there are are for general statements of any kind but do not have a deictic function.

deixis

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“Here is” informs the listener of something’s location. “There is” can do the same, but it can also inform the listener that something exists.

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