“There’s no ‘there’ there.” Is “there” a noun or an adverb? Laura Blumenthal Douglas...

“There’s no ‘there’ there.”

Is “there” a noun or an adverb?

Laura Blumenthal

Douglas College

Adverb

Adverbial usages = at that place, to that place, usually at the end of a sentence or clause:

O They have a laundromat and a café there.

O Don’t go there!

Pronoun

If it’s a pronoun, why doesn’t the verb agree with it, or why doesn’t it change forms?

O There is a man; there are two women.O This is a man; these are two women.

The form of the pronoun must change.

Pronoun

If it’s a pronoun, why doesn’t the verb agree with it, or why doesn’t it change forms?

It works like “what”:

O What is the answer? O What are the reasons?

Which is more frequent?

O Pronoun: 47O Adverb: 3

O Source: lextutor.ca

Typical student errors

O “They went to there”O “It was a place where were many people.”

WHY?

Interference from L1

Interference from L1

“There is a library there.”

(Translate into a language you know.)

Interference from L1Spanish: Hay una biblioteca ahí. = It has a library there.

French: Il y a une bibliothèque là-bas. = It has there a library down there.

German: Es gibt eine Bibliothek dort. = It gives a library there.

Turkish: Şurada kütüphane var. = At there library exists.

Japanese: Asokoni toshokan-ga arimasu. = That place-in library (nominative) exists.

Mandarin: Nàlǐ yǒu yīgè túshūguǎn. = That place there is a library.

Korean: Do suh guan en jugi e yo. = Library is at place.

Arabic: Tuwjad maktaba hunak = There is library there.

Resources

ResourcesA. Learners’ dictionaries

ResourcesA. Learners’ dictionaries

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7th Edition (2005)

Adverb only!

ResourcesA. Learners’ dictionaries

• Oxford ESL Dictionary (2004)

• Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Advanced, 5th Edition (2009)

Pronoun and Adverb

Resources

B. Grammar textbooks for learners

Resources

B. Grammar textbooks for learners

Only “there is/are” without identifying the P.O.S.

Resources

C. Websites

ResourcesC. Website – jackpot!

There is a glass there, where the first there is a pronoun (the so-called 'existential there') and the other there is an adverb.– FumbleFingersNov 20 '13 at 4:11

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/138413/how-to-know-what-part-of-speech-is-there-in-some-cases

ResourcesD. Grammar textbooks for teachers

1) Parrott, M. (2010) Grammar for English Language Teachers (2nd ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2) Celce-Murcia, M. (1983) The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher's Course. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

ResourcesD. Grammar textbooks for teachers

• “there is/are” – explained as “dummy”subject

• confusion with the other there – not mentioned in Parrott

• “non-referential” - contrasted in Celce-Murcia

Concordance worksheet

Your task:

O Identify the different types of usages.O Decide with your partner what to call

each different type.

(50-instance Brown concordance, on lextutor.ca)

Concordance worksheetMy results:

Adverb: 3there is (in various tenses + negative)

O there is: 10O there are: 5O there was: 7O there wasn’t: 1O there were: 2O there has been: 5O there has not been: 1O there will be: 2O there’s not: 1

NOTE: there [BE] no 11!

variations on there is: 22O + adverb

O there also isO there certainly was not

O HedgingO there may beO there seemed to beO there should beO Should there be …?O there would be

O Other:O there existed

Implications(for teaching)

Teach both – contrast them.

RE-introduce “there” = pronoun, when introducing

O a structure that it goes with, or O a function such as hedging

Implications(for teaching)

Include it in exercises about

O modals (there will be, there would be), O past tense modals (there could have

been, there must have been)O hedging (there seems to be, there are

evidently, there could be, there is evidence of)

Implications(for teaching)

Don’t forget question formation:

O Will there be? O Would there be? O Could there have been? O Does there seem to be [hard!]? O Are there evidently [awkward]?

Thank you!

With special thanks to my language support:O Yoriko GillardO Haisen (Edwin) ZhangO Eun-Yu (David) KimO Huda Al-TayarO Amal Ayyash

Laura Blumenthal (blumenthall@douglascollege.ca)