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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