Hello to all...

Please share some wisdom on the use of "there" as an expletive expression taking the dummy role/position as subject (not an adverb) in the following models taken from Sam Shepard's True West. My understanding is that the expletive "there" must be the subject of a verb of existence, which happens here in the past tense, to be the subject of a sentence... it's not in the locative, if I'm correct. Thank you!

"There never was."

"There was a life here then."

John

John Chorazy
English III Academy, Honors, and Academic
Pequannock Township High School

Nulla dies sine linea.

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/