Collins Cobuild English Grammar (168 page)

9.52
    
There
is also used with adjectives such as
likely
,
unlikely
,
sure
, and
certain
to indicate the likelihood of something occurring.

There are unlikely to be any problems with the timetable.

there
with other verbs

9.53
    A few other verbs can be used after
there
in a similar way to
be
. If you want to say that something seems to be the case or that something seems to have happened, you can use
there
with
seem
or
appear
followed by
to be
or
to have been
.

There seems to have been some carelessness recently.
There appears to be a lot of confusion on this point.

To be
is sometimes omitted, especially in front of an uncountable noun.

There seems little doubt that he was hiding something.

There
is sometimes used followed by a passive form of a
reporting verb
and the infinitive
to be
to indicate that people say or think that something exists. For more information on
reporting verbs
, see the section beginning at paragraph
7.5
.

There is expected to be an announcement about the proposed building.
Behind the scenes, there is said to be intense conflict.

Happen
is used in the same type of structure to indicate that a situation exists by chance.

There happened to be a roll of sticky tape lying on the desk.

You can also use
tend
in this kind of structure to say that something generally happens or exists.

There tend to be a lot of parties at this time of year.

formal and literary uses

9.54
    
Exist
,
remain
,
arise
,
follow
, and
come
are sometimes used after
there
to say that something exists or happens. These structures occur only in formal English or literary writing.

There remained a risk of war.
There followed a few seconds’ silence.
There comes a time when you have to make a choice.

9.55
    Another construction commonly used in literary writing is to begin a sentence with a prepositional phrase relating to place followed by
there
and a verb of position or motion.

For example, instead of saying
The old church stands at the top of the hill
, a writer might say
At the top of the hill there stands the old church
.

From the hook
there hung
a long black coat.
Beside them
there rises
a twist of blue smoke.

Focusing using adverbials

Commenting on your statement: sentence adverbials

9.56
    There are many adverbials that are used to show your attitude to what you are saying or to make your hearer have a particular attitude to what you are saying. These are dealt with in paragraphs
9.57
to
9.63
.

There are also some that are used to make a statement narrower or to focus attention on a particular thing that it applies to. These are dealt with in paragraphs
9.64
to
9.68
.

All these adverbials are called
sentence adverbials
because they apply to the whole sentence they are in. They are sometimes called
disjuncts
in other grammars.

Sentence adverbials are often placed at the beginning of a sentence. Some are also used in other positions, as shown in the examples given below, but they are usually separated from the words around them by intonation or by commas, to show that they apply to the whole sentence.

For more general information about
adverbials
, see
Chapter 6
.

Stating what area you are referring to

being specific:
financially
,…,
politically speaking
,…

9.57
    When you are making it clear what aspect of something you are talking about, you use sentence adverbials formed from classifying adjectives. For example, if you want to say that something is important in the field of politics or from a political point of view, you can say that it is
politically important
. These adverbials often come in front of an adjective, or at the beginning or end of a clause.

It would have been
politically
damaging for him to retreat.
Biologically
we are not designed for eight hours’ sleep in one block.
We’ve had a very bad year
financially
.

The following is a list of adverbials that can refer to a particular aspect of something:

academically

aesthetically

biologically

chemically

commercially

constitutionally

culturally

ecologically

economically

emotionally

environmentally

ethically

financially

geographically

ideologically

intellectually

legally

logically

mechanically

mentally

morally

numerically

outwardly

physically

politically

psychologically

racially

scientifically

sexually

socially

spiritually

statistically

superficially

technically

technologically

visually

BE CREATIVE

9.58
    
Speaking
is sometimes added to these adverbials. For example,
technically speaking
can be used to mean
from a technical point of view
.

He’s not a doctor,
technically speaking
.
He and Malcolm decided that,
politically speaking
, they were in complete agreement.

generalizing:
basically
,
on the whole
, etc.

9.59
    You often want to avoid making a firm, forceful statement, because you are aware of facts that do not quite fit in with what you are saying.

One way of doing this is to use a sentence adverbial that shows that you are making a general, basic, or approximate statement.

Basically
, the older you get, the harder it becomes.
By and large
we were allowed to do as we wished.
I think
on the whole
we don’t do too badly.

The following adverbials are used like this:

all in all

all things considered

altogether

as a rule

at a rough estimate

basically

broadly

by and large

essentially

for the most part

fundamentally

generally

in essence

in general

on average

on balance

on the whole

overall

ultimately

Note that you can also use the expressions
broadly speaking
,
generally speaking
, and
roughly speaking
.

We are all,
broadly speaking
, middle class.
Roughly speaking
, the problem appears to be confined to the tropics.

BE CREATIVE

9.60
    You can also use prepositional phrases formed with classifying adjectives, such as
in financial terms
or
from a political point of view
. Similar prepositional phrases can be formed using the nouns related to these adjectives, for example using
money
instead of
financial
:
in money terms
,
in terms of money
,
with regard to money
, or
from the money point of view
.

Life is going to be a little easier
in economic terms
.
That is the beginning of a very big step forward
in educational terms
.
This state was a late developer
in terms of commerce
.