Bill Situ
English and ESL Instructor
An existential clause is a clause that begins with "there" and follows with the verb "to be". As the name suggests, its purpose is to indicate existence. Here are some examples:
There are almost 1500 students at my school.
There is someone at the door.
When using existential clauses, it is always important to pay attention to the complement. The following example is incorrectly written:
There was many problems with my computer.
The complement here is many problems with my computer, which is a plural complement. As such, the verb to be is not properly inflected. The proper inflection should be were:
There were many problems with my computer.
There are almost 1500 students at my school.
There is someone at the door.
When using existential clauses, it is always important to pay attention to the complement. The following example is incorrectly written:
There was many problems with my computer.
The complement here is many problems with my computer, which is a plural complement. As such, the verb to be is not properly inflected. The proper inflection should be were:
There were many problems with my computer.
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