Moon7296 Posted 14 years ago
Essay & Composition Writing
There appeared a strange face in the window.
Verbs other than be that occur in sentences with nonreferential there include
1. verbs that describe existence or position(dwell, exist, live, remain, stand);
2. verbs of motion or direction(approach, come, fly, gallop, go, run, walk);
These verbs occur much less frequently with there than be does, and they tend to sound much better when there is preceded by a phrase or an adverbial clause. Notice that (5a), in which there is not preceded by an adverbial cluase, does not sound quite as good as sentence (5b).
(5a). There appeared a strange face in the window.
(5b). Just as she lit the old candle, there appeared a strange face in the window.
Q1) Is there any specific reason for the underlined part?
Q2) Can I say "A strange face appeared in the window?" If so, why do we say (5a) instead of it?
1. verbs that describe existence or position(dwell, exist, live, remain, stand);
2. verbs of motion or direction(approach, come, fly, gallop, go, run, walk);
These verbs occur much less frequently with there than be does, and they tend to sound much better when there is preceded by a phrase or an adverbial clause. Notice that (5a), in which there is not preceded by an adverbial cluase, does not sound quite as good as sentence (5b).
(5a). There appeared a strange face in the window.
(5b). Just as she lit the old candle, there appeared a strange face in the window.
Q1) Is there any specific reason for the underlined part?
Q2) Can I say "A strange face appeared in the window?" If so, why do we say (5a) instead of it?
Top answer
1-- Not really. 2-- Yes, you can say that, too. 'There is/are/etc' is used mainly to move the real subject ('face') down towards the end of the sentence, where new information or the main point of the sentence usually appears.
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1-- Not really.
2-- Yes, you can say that, too. 'There is/are/etc' is used mainly to move the real subject ('face') down towards the end of the sentence, where new information or the main point of the sentence usually appears.
2-- Yes, you can say that, too. 'There is/are/etc' is used mainly to move the real subject ('face') down towards the end of the sentence, where new information or the main point of the sentence usually appears.
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