Someone just pointed out to me backchannel the embarrassingly obvious answer to my question: If we substitute "exists" for "there is" the problem with recasting the sentence is solved. 

Still, I'm wondering how many people on the list would follow Noel Burton-Roberts and teach "It" as the *subject* in sentences with "extraposed subjects" (like the one about the lion in my previous example-- see Analysing Sentences, p. 205).

Kent

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