Difference between revisions of "There"
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===Future and other modalities=== | ===Future and other modalities=== | ||
| − | + | ====The dedicated modal verbs (invariable)==== | |
*There <b>will be</b> <b style="color:darkred;">a<span style="color:gray;">n</span></b> . . . next week. | *There <b>will be</b> <b style="color:darkred;">a<span style="color:gray;">n</span></b> . . . next week. | ||
*There <b>will be</b> . . . <b style="color:darkred;">s</b> later this week. | *There <b>will be</b> . . . <b style="color:darkred;">s</b> later this week. | ||
| − | |||
*There <b>won't be</b> <b style="color:darkred;">a<span style="color:gray;">n</span></b> . . . until next week. | *There <b>won't be</b> <b style="color:darkred;">a<span style="color:gray;">n</span></b> . . . until next week. | ||
*There <b>won't be</b> . . . <b style="color:darkred;">s</b> in the room. | *There <b>won't be</b> . . . <b style="color:darkred;">s</b> in the room. | ||
| − | + | ||
| − | + | *There <b>would be</b> time to finish, if we didn't have that meeting. (irrealis) | |
| − | + | *There <b>would have been</b> time to finish, if we hadn't had that meeting. (counterfactual) | |
| + | |||
| + | <br/><br /> | ||
| + | |||
*There <b>may be</b> a few things we need to clear up from the last meeting before we start. Let's go over the minutes quickly to see if there are any questions. | *There <b>may be</b> a few things we need to clear up from the last meeting before we start. Let's go over the minutes quickly to see if there are any questions. | ||
*There <b>may not be</b> enough time to walk. | *There <b>may not be</b> enough time to walk. | ||
| Line 52: | Line 54: | ||
*There <b>may have been</b> some confusion. | *There <b>may have been</b> some confusion. | ||
*There <b>might not have been</b> any review of the account. | *There <b>might not have been</b> any review of the account. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Cf. should, can, could, must... | ||
| + | |||
| + | ====other modal verb structures (variable / requiring do-support)==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | *There '''used to be''' a shop where you could buy fancy soap & bath-bubbles here. | ||
| + | *There''' didn't use to be''' a charge for kids. | ||
| + | |||
| + | *There '''has to''' be a reason. | ||
| + | *There '''have to be''' other solutions. | ||
| + | *There '''doesn't have to be''' conflict over this issue. | ||
===Use with the present participle=== | ===Use with the present participle=== | ||
Revision as of 13:32, 8 June 2018
Pronunciation
UK: strong form /ðeə/, There's /ðeəz/, There are /ðerə/
US: strong form /ðɜr/, There's /ðɜrz/, There are /ðɜrər/
NB: identical to the pronunciation of there and they're. This is terribly inefficient and makes learning difficult, but what can you do? That's the way the language is!
Existential
In the following patterns: s indicates any plural noun. (i.e. including irregular ones like people, children, data, alumni, etc., ...
Present
- There is an . . . in the fridge.
- There are . . .s in the soup.
- There isn't any . . . in the soup. uncountable nouns
- There isn't an . . . in the toolbox.
- There aren't any . . . s in the freezer. countable nouns
- There has been a change of plans.
- There haven't been any changes here for years.
- There haven't been many calls this morning.
Past
- There was a problem with the file.
- There were mistakes in the file.
- There wasn't any . . . left. uncountable nouns
- There weren't any . . . s in the building. countable nouns
- There hadn't been much interest in the product until the company began to market it more aggressively.
Future and other modalities
The dedicated modal verbs (invariable)
- There will be an . . . next week.
- There will be . . . s later this week.
- There won't be an . . . until next week.
- There won't be . . . s in the room.
- There would be time to finish, if we didn't have that meeting. (irrealis)
- There would have been time to finish, if we hadn't had that meeting. (counterfactual)
- There may be a few things we need to clear up from the last meeting before we start. Let's go over the minutes quickly to see if there are any questions.
- There may not be enough time to walk.
- There may have been some confusion.
- There might not have been any review of the account.
Cf. should, can, could, must...
other modal verb structures (variable / requiring do-support)
- There used to be a shop where you could buy fancy soap & bath-bubbles here.
- There didn't use to be a charge for kids.
- There has to be a reason.
- There have to be other solutions.
- There doesn't have to be conflict over this issue.
Use with the present participle
be +-ing is incompatible with There + be.
This is true of the existential structure. There is can introduce a clause containing a present participle (Small clause)
- There
were waitingfour people. - There were [four people waiting].
- There
was being intervieweda minister about reform on TV. - There was [a minister being interviewed about reform] on TV.
It is also true of the fronted locative structure.
- There came
were comingthree ships... - There goes
is goingthe bus.
Locative
A location a distance away from the speaker & listener. The opposite of here.
Idiomatic
Comfort
- There, there, don't cry.
Famous uses
There is no there, there. (Gertrude Stein is famous for this sentence about her native Oakland. She said it about going back to her native Oakland, because she no longer knew many people in a city that had changed since her youth. Ishmael Reed responded. Later, in the 2016 elections, this became the mantra of the Clinton spinners dealing with the many leaks during the 2016 elections (after it was used by ???): but it had come to be synonymous with "big nothing-burger", which originated in the same quarters. It's not clear if "There is no there, there" was meant to mean "There is no smoking gun, there" or "There is no context there, there in that email dump"
Wikipedians even have a policy (NOTHERE) by this name that can be cited when blocking people from editing the encyclopedia that anyone can edit. It is generally parsed as "Not here" rather than "No there".
Humorous add-on to demonstrative determiners
From dialectal (non-standard) English, forms a contrastive pair with "here" to indicate proximity or distance. '
- "That there" NOUN vs. "this here" NOUN
- "them there" NOUNs vs. "these here" NOUNs
