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Tenacious Learner Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Locative vs existential there?
Hi teachers,
The context:
He looked behind him. He could see the lights. There were five or six men. They ran fast, and their lights moved up and down.
In this question, 'How many men were there?', 'there' is the 'locative there', isn't it?
How about if I ask this question, 'How many men were there behind him?, then 'there' becomes the 'existential there' just because I have the prepositional phrase at the end, doesn't it?
Thanks in advance.
The context:
He looked behind him. He could see the lights. There were five or six men. They ran fast, and their lights moved up and down.
In this question, 'How many men were there?', 'there' is the 'locative there', isn't it?
How about if I ask this question, 'How many men were there behind him?, then 'there' becomes the 'existential there' just because I have the prepositional phrase at the end, doesn't it?
Thanks in advance.
Top answer
', 'there' is the 'locative there', isn't it? Probably not, but we can't be certain in writing. In speech, locative there would be stressed.
- ', 'there' is the 'locative there', isn't it?
- Probably not, but we can't be certain in writing.
- In speech, locative there would be stressed.
- Tenacious Learner How about if I ask this question, 'How many men were there behind him?
- It's probably existential there, but it could be interpreted as locative.
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8 Answers
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Tenacious LearnerIn this question, 'How many men were there?', 'there' is the 'locative there', isn't it?Probably not, but we can't be certain in writing. In speech, locative there would be stressed.
Tenacious LearnerHow about if I ask this question, 'How many men were there behind him?It's probably existential ther
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Hello fivejedjon,
Thanks for your reply.
In this question, 'How many men were there?', 'there' is the 'locative there', isn't it?
'How many men were there behi
Thanks for your reply.
In this question, 'How many men were there?', 'there' is the 'locative there', isn't it?
fivejedjonIt's probably existential there, but it could be interpreted as locative.My interpretation was that 'there' meant 'behind the trees'. That's why I assumed that it was locative.
'How many men were there behi
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Your last post is a little confusing, because you switched round my answers to your questions.
Tenacious Learnern this question, 'How many men were there?', 'there' is the 'locative there', isn't it??[...] .My interpretation was that 'there' meant 'behind the trees'. That's why I assumed that it was locative.It is simply not possible in writing to say for certa
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Tenacious LearnerHow many men were there?How many men WERE there? Existential.
How many men were THERE? Locative.
How many men WERE there behind him? Existential.
How many men were THERE BEHIND him? Locative.
CJ
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fivejedjonYour last post is a little confusing, because you switched round my answers to your questions.Hello fivejedjon,
So sorry, you are right. I can't do two things at the same time.
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Hello Jim,
Thanks for your examples and comments, as always they help.
All of them have this answer, 'There were five or six
Thanks for your examples and comments, as always they help.
All of them have this answer, 'There were five or six
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Tenacious LearnerAll of them have this answer, 'There were five or six.', right?How many WERE there? There were five or six.
How many were THERE? There were five or six there. / Five or six were there.
As shown.
CJ
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