There-structures as states of affairs
A there-structure is commonly used in English to express events, happenings and states of affairs in a schematic way, without the intervention of participants. Frequently, the noun is a nominalization of a verbal process:
1 There was a fight.
2 There was an abrupt knock at the door.
3 There has been unprecedented industrial expansion.
4 There was a sudden feeling of panic.
5 There is still bribery, there is still corruption. No doubt there always will be.
There-constructions with nominalizations have the effect of silencing the Agent of the action. We don’t know who knocked at the door, who panicked, who bribes whom, who fought whom. The occurrence is the only important part of the message.
While the NG is typically indefinite, even definite NGs – which represent referents that are already accessible – can be introduced by a there-construction.
This is how a woman described her new portable sauna bath, introducing each part by means of a there-construction:
There’s an oval mat you put down on the floor,1 then there’s the box which holds the heating element,2 with a wooden seat on it – I put a towel on top, otherwise it gets too hot – then there are the sides which are soft and which you zip up.3 It all packs away neatly afterwards.
1indefinite NG; 2definite NG; 3definite NG
