The sentence, Blue roses are, does not seem to you to mean the same as the other two. The reason is that it has become the custom to use a peculiar kind of sentence such as, There are blue roses, when we wish to assert existence. In such sentences, we put the subject after the predicate attribute and the word there in the usual place of the subject. The word there, in such cases, does not express any part of the thought. It is called a form word, since it merely changes the sentence from the usual form in which the subject comes first.

But you must not think that the word there is always used in this way. This word generally expresses place and is necessary to the thought of the sentence. For example, in the sentence, There are your books, the place of the books is asserted, and the word there is the predicate attribute of place. The existence of the book is not mentioned. Both speaker and hearer knew of it before. The word are is here the copula only.

Exercise 13

Decide in regard to each sentence whether the word there is a predicate attribute of place, or whether it is a form word.

Decide also whether the copula and predicate attribute are combined or are separate.

Perhaps some of the sentences have two possible meanings. If they do, tell which is the more probable one.

1. There is Mary.

2. There are honest men.

3. There has been a bad storm.

4. There are your gloves.

5. There are three types of horses.

6. There is my cousin.

7. There was a bad blunder.

8. There are many kinds of air ships.

9. There is the mistake in the work.

10. There is a mistake in the work.

11. There were great men in those days.