After I posted earlier, I thought of "It's a beautiful day", clearly an
existential clause. And, of course, "It's a long way to Tipperary. Are
those exceptions to a general rule? I'm still scratching my head.

Craig>

My understanding is that in the South, "it" often replaces "there" in
> these existential expressions.  I remember an occasion several years back
> when a former president of my college, a product of an upper-middle-class
> background in South Carolina, returned from a fund-raising trip to San
> Diego and exclaimed, "Man, it's a lot of rich people in San Diego!"
>
> Dwayne Strasheim
> Hastings College
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Kehe
> Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 11:57 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: It should or There should be
>
> 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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