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Cho7712 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

there subject

I ran across the following sentence while I read a book.
ex. ..., since there is available such a useful avenue for those who have become familiar with the study of nature,.....

To me, it seems the underlined long noun-phrase is a postponed subject.
But, I am not so sure that a noun-phrase can be postponed leaving the expletive there in the subject position.
a. Is this grammatically right?
b. If it is, how frequently is this type of construction used in the written or spoken type of English?
  

Top answer

cho7712 To me, it seems the underlined long noun-phrase is a postponed subject. You haven’t underlined the entire NP: …there is available such a useful avenue for those who have become familiar with the study of nature … It’s a displaced subject, which is not really a kind of subject but a phrase that corresponds to the subject of the clause’s non-existential counterpart ( Such a useful avenue for those who have become familiar with the study of nature is available ). The existential version is strongly preferred.

— RandomGuy

  • cho7712 To me, it seems the underlined long noun-phrase is a postponed subject.
  • You haven’t underlined the entire NP: …there is available such a useful avenue for those who have become familiar with the study of nature … It’s a displaced subject, which is not really a kind of subject but a phrase that corresponds to the subject of the clause’s non-existential counterpart ( Such a useful avenue for those who have become familiar with the study of nature is available ).
  • The existential version is strongly preferred.
  • cho7712 If it is, how frequently is this type of construction used in the written or spoken type of English?
  • Very.
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7 Answers
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cho7712To me, it seems the underlined long noun-phrase is a postponed subject.
You haven’t underlined the entire NP:

…there is available such a useful avenue for those who have become familiar with the study of nature…


It’s a displaced subject, which is not really a kind of subject but a phrase that corresponds to the subj
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Aspara GusYou haven’t underlined the entire NP:…there is available such a useful ,,,
How did "available" get into that NP? Is this a typo, maybe?

CJ
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CalifJimHow did "available" get into that NP?
It modifies the head, avenue.

…

No?
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Aspara GusNo?
No. That would sanction "beautiful such an avenue", wouldn't it?

*There is beautiful such an avenue.

'is available' is the constituent. It takes the place of a verb, so to speak, and 'available' isn't in the same constituent as the rest of that structure.

I call this there-insertion. (Well, it's not jus
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You’re right! I’m not sure why, but I’ve always thought that while expressions like available functioned as complements in non-existentials, they modified nouns in existentials. That really doesn’t make any sense at all, now that I’ve given it some thought.
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Thank you, CalifJim and Aspara Gus. I've learned a lot as always.
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