"It" sometimes stands in as a placeholder as well in what is sometimes
called right-dislocation ("It bothered me that all the capybaras were
ululating"). The "existential" notion provides a good heuristic even if
we divorce it from the notion of extraposition, though -- "There is/are"
is a construction used to assert or comment on the fact that some object
or condition exists, or doesn't exist, or should(n't) exist, etc. "A fly
is in my soup" says something about the fly; "there's a fly in my soup"
says something about the situation ("This is not a good state of
affairs!" perhaps, or "Er..I hope this isn't a new trend in nouvelle
cuisine"). 


Bill Spruiell

-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Hancock
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 2:19 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: It should or There should be

David,
   "There" is just a grammatical placeholder for an extraposed subject.
"No corporal punishment in schools should be" sounds ungrammatical.
   We tend to use "it" when the sentence is not existential (when there
is
more than a be verb in the predicate."
   "It is true that we should have no corporal punishement in schools."
   "It is easy to love you."
   That's a quick explanation. Someone else may have seen it treated
directly or more extensively.

Craig>

An ESL student wrote, "It should be no corporal punishment in schools."
> Would any of you have a simple way of explaining to her why "It"
should be
> "There"?
>
> Thanks,
>
> David Kehe
> Bellingham, WA
>
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