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KaaJee Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

there is or not there is

I hope it’ll be understandable. It is said, “there is a…”, “there are …s,” etc. And similarly,
There are cars going on the road.
There is a girl standing in front of the house..
The reason why we don’t say “A girl is standing…” is that it isn’t about “the” but “a” girl. And we talk about cars not knowing whose cars they are. But I don’t know if it works also in other tenses, not only in present/past/future continous.
So which are more proper?
a) There appeared a man. b) A man appeared.
a) There flow two rivers into that river. b) Two rivers flow into that river.
There sprouts an apple tree from that seed. (/Or:/ There will an apple tree be sprout…) b) An apple tree sprouts (will sprout) from that seed.
  

Top answer

KaaJee There are cars going on the road. "cars going on the road" is not a very usual or natural thing to say, but I guess it isn't really relevant to your question. KaaJee The reason why we don’t say “A girl is standing…” is that it isn’t about “the” but “a” girl.

— GPY

  • KaaJee There are cars going on the road.
  • "cars going on the road" is not a very usual or natural thing to say, but I guess it isn't really relevant to your question.
  • KaaJee The reason why we don’t say “A girl is standing…” is that it isn’t about “the” but “a” girl.
  • Actually we do say that.
  • " (subtle differences might be identified).
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4 Answers
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KaaJeeThere are cars going on the road.
"cars going on the road" is not a very usual or natural thing to say, but I guess it isn't really relevant to your question.
KaaJeeThe reason why we don’t say “A girl is standing…” is that it isn’t about “the” but “a” girl.
Actually we do say that. "A girl is standing ..." is fine
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It's a very thorough answer, thanks very much! Sorry, I wanted to write "there will an apple tree sprout." And in every case, "there is" was meant as dummy subject, not at "that place." So, regarding all these, I would really inclined not to use it unless if it is continous tense. However, you've written just now,

[...]there seems an ambiguity[...]
It's the same c
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KaaJeeSorry, I wanted to write "there will an apple tree sprout."
Feels poetic, or like something from an old book.
KaaJeeHowever, you've written just now, [...]there seems an ambiguity[...]It's the same case as "there sprouts an apple tree."
Very good point. I didn't even notice! In ordinary modern English, "there seem
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Thank you again! Perhaps, could you mention other special cases? But if no other one occurs to you, it isn't interesting because they must be very rare.
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