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Rika-chi Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Existential Sentences
Hello!
I learned the notional subject of existential sentences ("there" sentences) must be indefinite, but there seems to be many exceptions; there are many sentences which occur with the definite NPs.
For example,
"In England, there was never the problem that there was in America."
Why are they acceptable?
Are there any conditions under which they are acceptable?
I thought that is because the example above contains the postposed modifiers (still, I don't know why), but I found in my book that the sentence like "There's the question to be answered at once." is not correct.
I'm confused...
I learned the notional subject of existential sentences ("there" sentences) must be indefinite, but there seems to be many exceptions; there are many sentences which occur with the definite NPs.
For example,
"In England, there was never the problem that there was in America."
Why are they acceptable?
Are there any conditions under which they are acceptable?
I thought that is because the example above contains the postposed modifiers (still, I don't know why), but I found in my book that the sentence like "There's the question to be answered at once." is not correct.
I'm confused...
Top answer
rika-chi Why are they acceptable? I don't know why in the general case. Nevertheless there are a few patterns that use them.
- rika-chi Why are they acceptable?
- I don't know why in the general case.
- Nevertheless there are a few patterns that use them.
- Maybe I can at least shed some light on this particular example.
- 1.
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2 Answers
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rika-chiWhy are they acceptable?I don't know why in the general case. Nevertheless there are a few patterns that use them. Maybe I can at least shed some light on this particular example.
1. Consider that there was an X can mean An X occurred (if X is the sort of thing that can "occur").
There was an accident near the p
00
A much more commonly used pattern with definite NPs is that of a list, often in answer to a question. Often, but not always, this can be seen as a list of "available things", or "suggestions".
-- What's on at the movies?
-- Well, there's "Juno", and "Superman 5", and "Australia", and ...
____
-- Who was at the party?
-- Let me see. Hmmm. There was Jane, and there was S
-- What's on at the movies?
-- Well, there's "Juno", and "Superman 5", and "Australia", and ...
____
-- Who was at the party?
-- Let me see. Hmmm. There was Jane, and there was S
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