The Nonreferential IT and THERE
What the heck does IT
and THERE refer to
anyways?
I. Introduction: What is IT and THERE?
The words IT and THERE commonly function
as pronouns.
For example:
John picked up the ball and threw it across
the field.
In this sentence it refers to the ball.
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Here is an example of THERE as a pronoun.
I was in Versailles last summer. It was there
that I ate raw beef.
In this sentence there refers to Versailles.
However, each of these words can perform a
different function, that of a nonreferential
subject.
There is someone in my room.
We can ask, what is the notion or the
assumption behind it and there?
Meaningless?
Let us further analyze each nonreferential,
starting with it.
II. Nonreferential IT
Where can we find it?
What is it’s purpose?
What does it mean?
1. General Features
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The nonreferential it occurs in
nonimperative sentences.
The nonreferential it functions as the
subject of the sentence.
At the same time the nonreferential it, being
in singular form, will always be followed by
singular BE verbs.
2. Function Verification
How can you tell that it functions as a subject?
There are several ways we can verify that it fills
the subject position.

You can invert the subject auxiliary verb
position in yes/no questions:
It is snowing. → Is it snowing?

You can also put it in the tag of a tag
question:
It was snowing, wasn’t it?
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It contracts with has and copula BE:
It’s been snowing all day.
It’s a cold day.
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Subject Verb Agreement
The nonreferential it must agree with the
verb:
It is/was cold.
*It are/were cold.
3. What is the meaning of it?
First let us look at the following sentences:
It’s cloudy and cold this morning.
It will take about two hours from Los Angeles to
Portland, OR.
Clearly the nonreferential it does not refer to
any particular word in each of the sentences.
However, we can infer the meaning of
subjects by understanding of situation the
utterance occurs in or the context the
sentence.
It’s cloudy and cold this morning.
It refers to the weather.
It will take about two hours from Los Angeles to
Portland, OR.
It refers to the flight.
Murcia and Freeman (1999) summarizes that
nonreferential it can be found in common
expressions related to:
1. Time
2. Distance
3. Weather
4. Environment
Thus we can find it used in the following ways:
1. What time is it? It is 9pm. (time)
2. It is about a hundred miles to the sea.
(distance)
3. It is cloudy. (weather)
4. It is hot in here. (environment)
4. Is it truly meaningless?
Interestingly, it has been pointed out that the
nonreferential it can appear to be a pronoun.
It is 9pm.
It → The time
The time is 9pm.
However, if we replace it with its representative
noun phrase in wh-questions, the sentence
becomes ungrammatical.
What time is it?
*What time is the time?
Here is another example of why the
nonreferential it is too vague to represent a
specific noun phrase.
It is snowing.
What noun phrase is it replacing?
The clouds are snowing? The sky? Weather?
Clearly the nonreferential it does not rely on
antecedent or a specific referent.
However, we know that the subject is related to
weather in the previous sentence.
5. Summary: Use of Nonreferential It
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Used in nonimperative sentences
It functions as the subject
S-V agreement must be met
The meaning depends on the situation or the
context
The use of nonreferential it allows for shorter
sentences by eliminating redundancies
III. Nonreferential There

There word THERE is usually used to
provide information to a location.
Example: The man who has your car keys is
over there.
This is known as the deictic there.
However let us look at the following sentence:
There is a man who buys old comic books.
In this sentence, there does not refer to a
specific location.
So what does there mean?
1. Nonreferential THERE as a subject.
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Deictic there cannot function as the subject,
it provides supplemental information for the
subject.
Nonreferential there functions as the subject.
We can apply the following syntactic tests to
prove there functions as the subject:

Question tag test
* There’s the man who looks after the horses,
isn’t there?
There is a man who looks after the horses,
isn’t there?
Question tags have the subject in them.
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Negation test
*There isn’t the man who looks after the horses.
There isn’t a man who looks after the horses.
Only sentences with nonreferential there can
be negated.

Deictic here test (replacing there with here)
-
Deictic there: Here’s the man who looks after
the horses.
-
Nonreferential there: *Here’s a man who looks after the horses.
As depicted in our textbook, the deictic here can
replace the deictic there, but not the nonreferential there.
2. There and S-V Agreement
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Nonreferential there is followed by the copula
verb BE.
Unlike the nonreferential it, nonreferential
there can take either the singular or plural BE
verb, depending on the noun phrase
following the verb.
Examples:
There is a cup on the counter.
There are two cups on the counter.
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NP following the verb determines the verb
form for S-V agreement.
Variations amongst speakers:
There’s problems here.
(common in informal speech)
There’re problems here.
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ESL/EFL students should learn to contrast
there is versus there are in formal speech
and writing exercises.
It should be mentioned that there’s instead of
there is following plural NPs is more
acceptable because of the contraction.
We can also point out the proximity principle.
There is a girl and two boys in the group.
*There are a girl and two boys in the group.
3. Verbs Other Than BE with
Nonreferential THERE
We can use verbs other than BE verbs.
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Verbs of existence or position: exist, live, dwell, stand, lie,
remain, etc.
There are several alternatives.
Event verbs that describe something happening, developing, or
materializing: develop, arise, appear, emerge, ensue, etc.
There arose a conflict.
Verbs of motion or direction: come, go, walk, run, fly, approach,
etc.
Along the beach, there walked a beautiful woman.
4. Indefinite Determiner as a BIG
CLUE!
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One big clue we can look at in distinguishing
the deictic there from the nonreferential there
is the use of determiners following the copula
BE.
There’s the man… (deictic)
There’s a man… (nonreferential)

If the logical subject following the copula verb is not
specific, then it is a nonreferential there.
BUT there is an exception to this general rule.
Example:
There’s the/a most unusual animal crawling
over there.
In this sentence, certain superlative adjectives permit
either a definite or indefinite article to be used in such
context.
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Other examples of the definite determiner
with logical subjects.
1. There will soon appear the definite edition of
“Hamlet.”
2. There never was that problem in Austin.
(p.453)
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In the first sentence, the uniqueness of the
object being discussed requires the use of
the definite determiner.
In the second sentence, that is being used to
refer to something previously mentioned.
5. So what does there mean?
The best way to explain what there means is
that it is used to indicate an existence of
something.
We can, however, break the meaning down
further by looking at the following situational
contexts.
How and when to use the
nonreferential there.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Introducing new information: There’s a new sheriff in town.
Existence of something: There is a Santa Clause!
Responding to questions and listing: What is there to see in New York City?
There’s the Museum of Natural History, Central Park, The Statue of Liberty…
Presentational use: There are several options we can consider.
Reference to location: There used to be a haunted house on the corner.
Suggestion: I can’t decide where to take the client for lunch. Well, there’s that
Thai place down the street.
Narrative use: There once an old woman who lived on the hill.
Reminder: Before we depart, there’s remains a problem with weather at the
destination.
Transitional shift in topic: The public skepticism about the proposed calls for
elections is evident . However, there are no signs that the citizens will boycott
the elections.
6. Challenges for ESL/EFL Students
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Some languages do not require a surface subject, thus some
students may omit nonreferentials. *Is raining. It is raining.
Direct L1 translation. *Rain is plentiful. There is plenty of rain.
Topic-comment languages.
There are 27 students in Taro’s school.
*Taro’s school has 27 students.
Nonreferential there subjects missing a relative pronoun.
There were a lot of events that happened in my country.
*There were lot of events happen in my country.
Incorrect use nonreferentials. * There is very nice in Japan.
References
Celce-Murcia, M. & Larson-Freeman, D. (1999). The Grammar Book. An ESL/EFL
Teacher’s Course, (2nd Edition). Boston: Heinle, Cencage Learning.
Cowan, R. (2008). The Teacher's Grammar of English. A Course Book and
Reference Guide. New York: Cambridge University Press.