Structure of "there"

[hairstyler]

Dear Carillo,

There +live (exist, remain, come, arise, appear, enter) + noun

please describe the usage of the structure of the above "there".

Thanks,
Hairstyler

[Joe Carillo]

Depending on the verb used, “there” can function as an adverb or as an expletive in this sentence structure:

There + live (exist, remain, come, arise, appear, enter) + noun.

“There” as adverb

 As an adverb, “there” works in the sense of (a) “in or at that place,” (b) “to or at that place,” (c) “at that point or stage,” (d) “in that matter, respect, or relation,” or (e) “interjectionally expressing satisfaction, approval, encouragement or sympathy, or defiance.”

For instance, the sentence “There lives the king” can be construed as the inverted form of the sentence “The King lives there,” with “there” working in the sense of “in or in that place.” When expressed interjectionally as “There lives the king!”, however, that sentence becomes an expression of satisfaction that the king is still alive after fears that he had died.

The sentence “There appears the king” or “There remains the king” can similarly be construed to be the inverted form of “The king appears there” or “The king remains there.” However, take note that we can’t use the verb “come” for that sentence structure, we need to replace it with the verb “go” to form the inverted sentence “There goes the king” and its normal structure “The king goes there.” 

The expletive or anticipatory “there”

In contrast, in the sentence “There exists a monster that feeds on newly borns,” “there” works as the expletive “there” or the so-called anticipatory “there.” In this expletive sense, “there” occupies the position of the subject or object of a verb in normal English word order and anticipates a subsequent word or phrase that supplies the needed meaningful content (this definition is from the Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary). It works in much the same way as the expletive “it” in this sentence: “It was a cold night when the baby was born.” Note that in expletive “there” sentences, “there” generally can be dropped to make the sentence more concise; in particular, the sentence “There exists a monster that feeds on newly borns” can be reduced to “A monster feeds on newly borns.” (The intended emphasis or drama vanishes in this “there”-less version, though.)

In the sentence “There remains the matter of the king’s vindictiveness,” “there” also works as an expletive rather than as an adverb; so with “there” in the sentence “There appears to be a conspiracy against the king” and “There arises a conspiracy against the king.” Note that the sentence “There remains the matter of the king’s vindictiveness” can be restructured into “The matter of the king’s vindictiveness remains” and “There arises a conspiracy against the king” can be restructured into “A conspiracy against the king arises.” However, this restructuring can’t be done in the case of “There appears to be a conspiracy against the king”; the construction “A conspiracy against the king appears” is semantically dysfunctional. We need to be extra sensitive to the sense of the specific verb used in “there” sentences.

(For more on the usage of the expletive “there,” check out “The often-derided expletive ‘there’ can sometimes be put to good use” in My Media English Watch.)

We can see from the above examples of “there” usage that how the word “there” works—whether as an adverb or as an expletive—depends on the particular verb used and on how the sentence is constructed or punctuated.

[hairstyler]

Depending on the verb used, “there” can function as an adverb or as an expletive in this sentence structure:

There + live (exist, remain, come, arise, appear, enter) + noun.

“There” as adverb

 As an adverb, “there” works in the sense of (a) “in or at that place,” (b) “to or at that place,” (c) “at that point or stage,” (d) “in that matter, respect, or relation,” or (e) “interjectionally expressing satisfaction, approval, encouragement or sympathy, or defiance.”

For instance, the sentence “There lives the king” can be construed as the inverted form of the sentence “The King lives there,” with “there” working in the sense of “in or in that place.” When expressed interjectionally as “There lives the king!”, however, that sentence becomes an expression of satisfaction that the king is still alive after fears that he had died.

The sentence “There appears the king” or “There remains the king” can similarly be construed to be the inverted form of “The king appears there” or “The king remains there.” However, take note that we can’t use the verb “come” for that sentence structure, we need to replace it with the verb “go” to form the inverted sentence “There goes the king” and its normal structure “The king goes there.” 

The expletive or anticipatory “there”

In contrast, in the sentence “There exists a monster that feeds on newly borns,” “there” works as the expletive “there” or the so-called anticipatory “there.” In this expletive sense, “there” occupies the position of the subject or object of a verb in normal English word order and anticipates a subsequent word or phrase that supplies the needed meaningful content (this definition is from the Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary). It works in much the same way as the expletive “it” in this sentence: “It was a cold night when the baby was born.” Note that in expletive “there” sentences, “there” generally can be dropped to make the sentence more concise; in particular, the sentence “There exists a monster that feeds on newly borns” can be reduced to “A monster feeds on newly borns.” (The intended emphasis or drama vanishes in this “there”-less version, though.)

In the sentence “There remains the matter of the king’s vindictiveness,” “there” also works as an expletive rather than as an adverb; so with “there” in the sentence “There appears to be a conspiracy against the king” and “There arises a conspiracy against the king.” Note that the sentence “There remains the matter of the king’s vindictiveness” can be restructured into “The matter of the king’s vindictiveness remains” and “There arises a conspiracy against the king” can be restructured into “A conspiracy against the king arises.” However, this restructuring can’t be done in the case of “There appears to be a conspiracy against the king”; the construction “A conspiracy against the king appears” is semantically dysfunctional. We need to be extra sensitive to the sense of the specific verb used in “there” sentences.

(For more on the usage of the expletive “there,” check out “The often-derided expletive ‘there’ can sometimes be put to good use” in My Media English Watch.)

We can see from the above examples of “there” usage that how the word “there” works—whether as an adverb or as an expletive—depends on the particular verb used and on how the sentence is constructed or punctuated.

please clarify whether the following sentence belongs to inverted form and are correct or not.

1) Long, long ago, there lived near the sea an old fisherman and his wife.
2) There stood a tall tree on the top of the hill.
3) There followed an uncomfortable silence.

[Joe Carillo]

Yes, these three sentences are all grammatically correct and they are all inverted sentences that use the expletive-“there”:

(1) “Long, long ago, there lived near the sea an old fisherman and his wife.”
(2) “There stood a tall tree on the top of the hill.”
(3) “There followed an uncomfortable silence.”

See how the expletive “there” can be taken out from those sentences to give them the normal subject-verb-predicate structure:

(1) “Long, long ago, an old fisherman and his wife lived near the sea” or “An old fisherman and his wife lived near the sea long, long ago.”
(2) “A tall tree stood on the top of the hill.”
(3) “An uncomfortable silence followed.”

[hairstyler]

Yes, these three sentences are all grammatically correct and they are all inverted sentences that use the expletive-“there”:

(1) “Long, long ago, there lived near the sea an old fisherman and his wife.”
(2) “There stood a tall tree on the top of the hill.”
(3) “There followed an uncomfortable silence.”

See how the expletive “there” can be taken out from those sentences to give them the normal subject-verb-predicate structure:

(1) “Long, long ago, an old fisherman and his wife lived near the sea” or “An old fisherman and his wife lived near the sea long, long ago.”
(2) “A tall tree stood on the top of the hill.”
(3) “An uncomfortable silence followed.”

Please clarify whether the usage of inversion in "there" structure is used for emphasing the verb.

[Joe Carillo]

Yes, definitely. Inverted sentences allow us to abandon the normal subject-verb-complement (S-V/C) sequence so we can deliver the verb or its complement wherever we feel it can do its work most emphatically. For example, feel the difference in the emotional power between “Long, long ago, there lived an old fisherman and his wife” and its normal sentence-structure equivalent: "An old fisherman and his wife lived near the sea long, long ago." Of course, using the expletive-"there" isn't the only way to do inversion. Compare the heightened feeling in this inverted sentence, "So intense was his anger that he left his friends in a huff," to the matter-of-fact tone of its S-V/C counterpart: "He left his friends in a huff because his anger was so intense." Putting the complement "so intense was his anger" ahead of the subject and the verb makes such a big difference in emotional power!