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Newguest Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

what is there

Hi

"We are abstracted from the present and authentic experience of what is there"

I'm just curious about the words "what is there." Why not "what there is."

"what is there" sounds to me like a question, but it's not a question and "what" is the subject.

I'm not sure if this rule applies here, but when we say "What happened" we do not use "did," i.e., "What did happen" because "what" here is the subject.

When we say "What did he do" we use "did" because "what" here is the object.

In my original sentence "what" is the subject, but I guess "do" and "is" in this case have nothing in common Emotion: smile

So, I'm just curious why "...what is there" instead of "...what there is"

Thank you
  

Top answer

A little vague out of context, but the structure seems fine: [the] authentic experience of what is there the realization of who we are the shock of where I found myself the disappointment of how badly he had done on the exam etc

  • A little vague out of context, but the structure seems fine: [the] authentic experience of what is there the realization of who we are the shock of where I found myself the disappointment of how badly he had done on the exam etc
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4 Answers
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A little vague out of context, but the structure seems fine:

[the] authentic experience of what is there
the realization of who we are
the shock of where I found myself

the disappointment of how badly he had done on the exam
etc
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Mister Micawber.

[the] authentic experience of what is there
the realization of who we are


Hi

I understand your second example which says "...of who we are" (pronoun before the verb to be) instead of "...of who are we"

The first one is "...of what is there" ("what" is followed by the verb "to be") instead of
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OK. Let's try it this way: there in your sentence is not the existential, introductory pronoun; it is the adverb of place.
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