Patrice,
   There are lots of ways to rewrite the sentence, but I think one big key
is that "there" is only a placeholder that allows the actual subject to
move into a post verb position (essentially for purposes of emphasis.)
   "The difference between coca and cocaine is big"> would be a version
that keeps grammatical subject in its normal slot, but when we do this
we need to find something to become the complement ("big") because the
verb to be in this instance requires it. We can't just say "A big
difference between coca and cocaine is." The 'there' makes this
possible.
    English allows for "existential" constructions that don't have verb to
be complements.  The classic would be "It is raining", where "raining"
is the displaced subject. Or "There's a moon out tonight,"  Or, better
yet, since it has no potential complements,  "There are ten good
reasons to lose weight."
    If the subject comes after the verb, ironically, we can designate
something as potentially part of the predicate by putting it before
and creating a clearer separation.  "Tonight, there's a moon out."
"Between coca and cocaine, there's a big difference." To me, though,
these are more like thematic moves.  I'm going to tell you something
about tonight, or I'm going to tell you something about coca and
cocaine. They are more like stepping off points for a message than
they are like modifiers, at least as I understand them.
    Existential clauses and marked themes are not routine in traditional
grammar. The analysis is difficult when the language doesn't fit our
usual explanations.
    But think about the next sentence after Michael's sentence.  It will
undoubtedly be more specific about the big difference between coca and
cocaine.  It proposes the existence of something (somewhat abstractly)
and creates the expectation of detail to follow.  (Cocaine is refined
and more powerful and more addictive or whatever.) The same is true of
the sentence about reasons for losing weight.  We fully expect the ten
reasons to follow. (We can defy those, though.  "There are also eleven
good reasons to keep it on.")
    If we imagine contexts for the sentences, we can get a better feel for
the purposes they serve.  We are positing the existence of something.
The rest is yet to come.

Craig



I see the prepositional phrase, "between coca and cocaine,"
> as being adverbial.  Thus, it would modify the verb, "is,"
> not the noun, "difference."  If you were label the phrase as
> adjectival, then when rewording the sentence as
> follows, "There is between coca and cocaine a very
> big difference," would the prepositional phrase then become
> adverbial?  Or would such a rewording be unacceptable?
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
>>Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:05:39 -0800
>>From: "Kischner, Michael" <[log in to unmask]>
>>Subject: Reed-Kellog help
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>>How would you diagram "There is a very big difference
> between coca and
>>cocaine"?
>>
>>Specifically, would you see the prepositional phrase as
> modifying
>>"difference" or "is"?
>>
>>Thanks.
>>
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> Patrice D.Williams, Ph.D.,  Associate Professor of English Troy
> University, Montgomery Campus [log in to unmask]
>
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