Sunday 29 July 2018

Existential Clauses Without Subjects

Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 309):
Frequently an ‘existential’ clause contains a distinct circumstantial element of time or place … If the circumstantial element is thematic, the Subject there may be omitted — but it will turn up if there is a tag: on the wall (there) was a Picasso painting, wasn’t there?