Existential Sentences and Expletive There

One of the basic premises of the theory of syntax is that clause structures can be minimally identified as containing a verb phrase that plays the role of predicate and a noun phrase that plays the role of subject. Copular sentences – that is, sentences that contain the verb to be or its (verbal) equivalent across languages – depart from this pattern: they provide a special case study where the noun phrase that co-occurs with the verb phrase plays the role of predicate. This anomaly reveals crucial and otherwise hidden properties of the clause structure. This chapter deals with the empirical identification of two symmetrical varieties of copular sentences – namely canonical versus inverse sentences – and along with it explores many peculiar properties, such as binding theoretical effects, backward reflexivisation, pseudo-extraction, the predicative role of pro, and the dramatic role of these sentences in triggering the pro-drop parameter.