5.

3 Feature Specifications for the Subject

In general, most verbs select a regular NP as subject:
(34) a. John/Some books/The spy disappeared.
b. The teacher/The monkey/He fooled the students.
However, as noted in the previous chapter, certain English verbs select only it or there as subject:
(35) a. It/*John/*There rains.
b. There/*The spy lies a man in the park.

it and there are often called ‘expletives’do not have or contribute any meaning.

overall we classify nouns as having three different

NFORM values: normal, it, and there. Given the NFORM feature, we can have the following
lexical entries for the verbs above:

limited set of verbs require their subject to be [NFORM

there]:5
(37) a. There exists only one truly amphibian mammal.
b. There arose a great storm.
(38) a. There exist few solutions which are cost-effective.
b. There is a riot in the park.
c. There remained just a few problems to be solved.
The majority of verbs do not allow there as subject:
(39) a. *There runs a man in the park.
b. *There sings a man loudly.

in (37a) takes one argument, and the argument will be realized as the SPR,verbs can introduce there as the subject,
through the Argument Realization option given in (40b)