Sentence Analysis

Question

There were a few fields, not just field one, that was in poor condition.

Main Clause:

There- ?

were-verb (Main Verb)

a-article

few-adjective

fields-noun (Subject)

?:

not-adverb

just-adverb

field-noun

one-noun

Relative Clause:

that-pronoun

was-verb

in-preposition

poor-adjective

condition-noun

Please tell me what part of speech 'there' is. (expletive, but surely it fits into one category)

Please tell me what type the bolded phrase is.

Thanks

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Could it be "the anticipatory there"?

There is, was, were, are, will be, had been?

(Sorry) The reason I replied was actually about number agreement in the blue sentence. That's about my speed at the moment.

"Not just field one" is parenthetical, or apositive, or something like that.
This leaves you with a plural simple subject, "fields."
This requires a plural verb, "were in poor condition."
You're going to tell me the subject is singular, "a few," right? (I'll take a few home.)

There were a few fields, not just field one, that was in poor condition.

English 1b3 · Answer

Hi,

I'm wondering if you misread my sentence, because your version is the same as mine. I too used the plural verb were.

But now that you mention number, and just to throw another spanner in the mix, I'm wondering also whether 'that was' should be 'that were'... What do you think?

Avangi · Answer

I suppose there are two verbs in the sentence, but somehow I don't consider the first one part of the main structure (though I'm sure it is).

There are two men who is in bad condition. ?

There were a few men, not just John, who was in bad condition. ?

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