EX Existential THERE
Definition
Existential “there” constructions (e.g., “there was a ring”, “there lived a hobbit”).
Detection Rules
mfte
cql[word={words} & pos="EX"]
cql[word="there" & pos="EX"]
Normalization
Per finite_verbs
Examples
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
There are students.
Source: le_foll_2024
And there is now a scholarship scheme.
Source: le_foll_2024
Sources
- mfte — Le Foll, Elen & Shakir, Muhammad (2023/2025) : Multi-Feature Tagger of English (MFTE) — Python version
- pybiber — Brown, David West & Reinhart, Alex (2026) : pybiber — Python package for linguistic feature extraction and Multi-Dimensional Analysis
- xiao_2009 — Xiao, Richard (2009) : Multidimensional analysis and the study of world Englishes
- grieve_2023 — Grieve, Jack (2023) : Register variation explains stylometric authorship analysis
- bohmann_2019 — Bohmann, Axel (2019) : Variation in English Worldwide: Varieties and Genres in a Quantitative Perspective
Notes
Highly relevant to fiction openings and scene-setting. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”