1. The There Transformation
Ed McCorduck
English 402--Grammar
SUNY Cortland

2. slide 2: the locative function of there
The word there has a number of functions in English:
It can serve as a locative adverb (i.e., to show a location):
Park the car there.
I dumped my things there in the back.
Put ‘er there.
English 402: Grammar

3. slide 3: there as a pro-form
It can serve as a pro-form, i.e., a word or element that substitutes for a larger constituent, e.g., a phrase like a PP:
You told me to leave my car in that seedy-looking lot, PP
so I parked it there.
= in that seedy-looking lot
English 402: Grammar

4. slide 4: expletive there
Another use is often called the existential or expletive there, in which there is the initial word in a sentence and it points to the existence of something; such sentences are usually based on Pattern I sentences, i.e., ones with the main verb be followed by an adverbial of time or place (see the chapter 2 “Verb Patterns and the Be Patterns” lecture):
English 402: Grammar

5. slide 5: example of a sentence with expletive there
There are traitors among us.
MV (be) subj
As labeled above, note that in these expletive sentences, even though there occurs in the initial position in the sentence which is normally occupied by the subject slot, there is not the subject of the sentence; the NP that occurs after the main verb is.
English 402: Grammar

6. slide 6: subject-verb agreement with expletive there sentences
However, especially in the spoken language the MV in expletive there sentences is singular even if the grammatical subject after the verb is plural, and especially if the verb is contracted to the there. One theory is that speakers reanalyze the sentence as though the initial there were in fact the subject—as is normally the case for the first element of a sentence—and treat there as a generalized indefinite pronoun, and thus not countable and therefore singular:
English 402: Grammar

7. adverb adverb singular
slide 7: subject-verb agreement with sentences with initial adverbial there
standard: There are the traitors.
adverb plural
standard: There is/There’s the traitor.
adverb adverb singular
ungrammatical: *There is/*There’s the traitors.
adverb adverb plural
English 402: Grammar

8. slide 8: subject-verb agreement in sentences with expletivethere
standard: There are traitors among us.
expletive plural
standard: There is/There’s a traitor among us.
expletive expletive singular
non-standard: There’s traitors among us.
(prescriptively “incorrect”) expletive plural
English 402: Grammar

9. slide 9: the there transformation
We say that the there transformation that produces expletive sentences beginning with there works by
inverting
the grammatical subject of a sentence and the main verb or
any auxiliaries before the main verb, if the MV is not be (cf. the inversion transformation discussed in the “The Inversion Transformation” lecture where only the first aux element is inverted with the subject)
then inserting initial there.
English 402: Grammar

10. MV ⇒ Pattern I sentence: Traitors are among us. application of there
slide 10: examples of the application of the there transformation to Pattern I sentences
Pattern I sentence: Traitors are among us. MV ⇒
application of there
transformation: There are traitors among us.
Pattern I sentence: A fire is in the barn.
transformation: There is/There’s a fire in the barn.
English 402: Grammar

11. aux MV ⇒ aux MV Pattern I sentence: Blood will be in the streets.
slide 11: more examples of the application of the there transformation to Pattern I sentences
Pattern I sentence: Blood will be in the streets.
aux MV ⇒
application of there
transformation: There will be blood in the streets.
Pattern I sentence: A change has been in the works.
aux MV
transformation: There has/There’s been a change in the works.
English 402: Grammar

12. slide 12: the application of the there transformation to other patterns besides Pattern I
The there transformation can occasionally apply to other sentence patterns besides Pattern I, i.e., to sentences where the MV is not be:
English 402: Grammar

13. MV ⇒ Pattern VI sentence: Three pitiable survivors remained.
slide 13: examples of the application of the there transformation to other sentence patterns
Pattern VI sentence: Three pitiable survivors remained. MV ⇒
application of there
transformation: There remained three pitiable survivors.
Pattern VI sentence: An ill wind blows.
transformation: There blows an ill wind.
English 402: Grammar

14. Enraged clients will be chasing you.
slide 14: example of the application of the there transformation to a Pattern VII sentence
Pattern VII sentence:
Enraged clients will be chasing you.
subj MV (V-tr) dir obj ⇒
application of there transformation:
There will be enraged clients chasing you.
Note that in this example the auxiliaries will and be are inverted with the subject but the MV chasing is unaffected.
English 402: Grammar

15. slide 15: Reed-Kellogg diagrams of sentences with expletive there
Reed –Kellogg diagrams of sentences that have undergone the there transformation have this expletive there on a horizontal line by itself, in an area above the main horizontal line that would be in the area for the subject of the sentence if the vertical subject/predicate line were extended upward, but not connected to any other line in the diagram. For example, here is the Reed-Kellogg diagram of the expletive sentence There are enemies among us:
English 402: Grammar

16. slide 16: example of a Reed-Kellogg diagram of an existential there sentence
English 402: Grammar

17. slide 17: example of a Reed-Kellogg diagram of an initial adverbial there
Contrast the above diagram with the diagram of the sentence There are our enemies which contains an adverbial there that has been moved to the front of the sentence from its original position in the predicate, which the Reed-Kellogg diagram reflects:
This diagram would also be identical to that for the Pattern I sentence Our enemies are there except that the initial t of there would not be capitalized.
English 402: Grammar