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Navitasan Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

There was...

-Was Pete at Tom's wedding party?
1) -No. There was his brother John. There was Harry. There was George. But Pete wasn't there.

-Who was in Tom's wedding band?
2) -There was Jeff on drums. There was Harry on guitar. There was Travis on bass guitar. And there was Hank on the keyboards.

3) There was John at Tom's wedding party. That's why I didn't go. I can't stand him.

4) There was John, Travis, George and Jeff at Tom's wedding party. That's why I didn't go. I can't stand any of them.

Which of the sentences 1-4 are correct?

Gratefully,
Navi.
  

Top answer

Existential there constructions with definite noun phrases are strange. These all have to be inverted to become cases of locative there . When you already have a locative expression ( at the party ) the use of there is almost redundant, and you might as well omit it.

— CalifJim

  • Existential there constructions with definite noun phrases are strange.
  • These all have to be inverted to become cases of locative there .
  • When you already have a locative expression ( at the party ) the use of there is almost redundant, and you might as well omit it.
  • His brother was there.
  • Harry was (there) on guitar.
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1 Answers
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Existential there constructions with definite noun phrases are strange.

These all have to be inverted to become cases of locative there. When you already have a locative expression (at the party) the use of there is almost redundant, and you might as well omit it.

His brother was there. Harry was (there) on guitar. John was (there) at Tom's weddi
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