English Grammar and Composition chapter 12: Introductory There

Unit Twelve

Introductory ‘There’

Lesson 1: Introductory ‘There’

A. Look at the picture and read the following rhyme:

Figure

Description: A large boot-shaped house with laces, a tiled roof, and windows. Many children play around it, a woman stands in front, and a boy sits in the tree on the right.

“ There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children,
She didn’t know what to do.”

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Ask and answer the questions:

1. Which word does the rhyme start with?
2. How is the old woman introduced to readers?

Note: ‘There’ is often used at the beginning of a sentence to introduce someone or something. In fact, it is used to start a sentence. Although there is normally an adverb of place, the introductory there does not have any adverbial sense and is used to introduce a sentence.

Read the sentences with introductory ‘there’:

1. There is a river beside the village.
2. There are many mango trees in our village.
3. There is a mosque inside the palace area.

The structure of sentences with introductory ‘there’ is:

There+ to be + subject+ adverbials

There + is + a river + beside the village.

Can you divide two other sentences to show the structure?

B. Read the passage below:

We have a garden. There are many flowers in the garden. There are also some vegetable plants in the garden. The garden gives us fresh vegetables and mental pleasure. We take care of the garden.

The underlined sentences can also be expressed in the following way:

Many flowers are in the garden. Some vegetable plants are also in the garden.

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Note: Adding introductory there is preferred and natural with the subject ‘some vegetable plants’.

Read the passage below:

Bring the pot, please. There is some sugar in the pot. You may put more sugar in your tea. Do you like to have some cookies with tea? Here are cookies in the bigger pot beside the sugar pot.

Note. We use there is with a singular subject and there are with a plural subject. There are more examples of introductory there + to be + singular/plural subjects for you:

1. There is darkness everywhere in the house. There is no sound anywhere. The boys enter the house. There are some bats in the corner of the dark room. Suddenly they start flying around them making sounds. All of a sudden there is thunder outside. There are two doors behind them. The doors are shut by the sudden wind. There is no way out!

2. There was a noise outside. Karim opened the door and found Goni there. He was afraid. There was something wrong with him. There were also a lot of people waiting outside. They were shouting. There was a bus accident in the highway. Goni was the driver of that bus which killed two pedestrians.

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C. 1. Look at the picture and describe what you see in the picture and write sentences on the structure there + to be + singular/plural subjects:

Figure

Description: A black-and-white photograph of a crowded city street with buses, a van, cars, and many pedestrians. Tall multi-storey buildings with signboards and banners line both sides of the road.

2. Now write a paragraph on “A Street.”

Note: After there is, the structure no + gerund can be used to indicate impossibility.

There is no knowing what she did with the money. = It is impossible to know what she did with the money.

There is no denying the fact that she stole the money. = It is impossible to deny the fact that she stole the money.

There is no knowing what will happen. = It is impossible to know what will happen.

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D. 1. Make sentences with the words in the following table :

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2. Look at the picture and describe what you see in it:

Figure

Description: A riverside scene with a boat carrying two people, several children playing in the water, and dolphins and a seal swimming nearby. Two birds fly above rocks and trees, and kites are flying in the sky. Water plants, lotus flowers and jellyfish appear in the foreground.