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Riglos Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

was / there was?

Hi there!

"We used to climb a mango tree that was / there was in his house"

Which of the two options id correct? Could you explain why?

Thanks a lot!

Mara.
  

Top answer

Although you may here the there form in casual conversation, it should be excised from formal writing. The existential there serves merely to fill the beginning of a sentence so that the real subject can be shifted for emphasis toward the end; as such, the there normally appears at the beginning: There is a fly in my soup. There is a mango tree in his house that we used to climb.

— Mister Micawber

  • Although you may here the there form in casual conversation, it should be excised from formal writing.
  • The existential there serves merely to fill the beginning of a sentence so that the real subject can be shifted for emphasis toward the end; as such, the there normally appears at the beginning: There is a fly in my soup.
  • There is a mango tree in his house that we used to climb.
  • In your sentence, the there serves no such purpose, as the mango tree remains firmly planted right after the main verb.
  • Hence the existential there here is useless and unnecessary.
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1 Answers
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Although you may here the there form in casual conversation, it should be excised from formal writing. The existential there serves merely to fill the beginning of a sentence so that the real subject can be shifted for emphasis toward the end; as such, the there normally appears at the beginning:

There is a fly in my soup.
There is a mango tr
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