FOLLOW-UP TP 3 KEY

Non-referential pronouns: IT and THERE

1. Explain the function of it and there in the following sentences. Account for
your answer with empirical evidence.
The first instances of both “It” and “There” are analysed below.
IT
a) It might be said that any one who ever saw the place must admire it.
b) It wasn’t long before he returned.
c) It seems that there’s something wrong. I can feel it.
d) It was freezing cold when they finally made up their minds to go.
e) Let’s call it a day.
f) Give it to me. I like that pen.
g) Don’t throw it away. It’s hard to get vinyl records in good condition.
h) It was Mary that brought the cake, not Beth.

THERE
a) There was a moment of confusion after the president’s speech.

b) He didn’t want to be left there on his own.

c) Is there anything to complain about?

d) There he stayed, silent and motionless.

e) There are too many people in this room, aren’t there?

f) There went our chances of survival.
g) Even then, there had been strange lakes of time when they would have a
moment of peace.

E.g:
-In the example “It might be said that any one who ever saw the place must admire it,”
the first instance of “It” is an expletive/non-referential determiner, as it is found in a
passive structure of this sort. In this case, “It” is the grammatical subject of the structure
in question, but the real or notional subject is the finite clause complement to the verb
“said”.
The second instance of “it” is a referential determiner which takes its reference
endophorically anaphorically. “It” refers back to “the place”, mentioned earlier in the
discourse.

-In the example “There was a moment of confusion after the president’s speech”, the
word “There” is an expletive/non-referential determiner, since it is used in an existential
construction of this particular kind.

KEY
b) It wasn’t long before he returned.
It is a quasi-argument with some loose reference to“time”.
c) It seems that there’s something wrong. I can feel it.

The first It is an expletive, in the context of the verb “seem” (raising predicate). The
notional subject is extraposed: the CP “that there’s something wrong”. We can see that
It is simply a place-holder for the subject position.
The second instance of It has endophoric anaphoric reference. It refers back to
“something” in the previous sentence.

d) It was freezing cold when they finally made up their minds to go.
It is a quasi-argument use with “weather” predicates. Halfway between referential and
expletive “it”, quasi arguments have no referential content and cannot be questioned
(*What is freezing?), but they can control silent subjects in embedded clauses – just like
referential pronouns do – (It was freezing cold before snowing).

e) Let’s call it a day.

Referential (Non-specific or loose reference) it: When found in an idiom, the pronoun
it is still considered to be referential, but its reference is somehow obscure, though not
nonexistent. Difficult as it is to ascertain with precision what the pronoun refers to, that
does not imply that pronoun it does not refer to anything. The pronoun has been
emptied of its referent throughout history, and in Modern English, it is hard to pinpoint
its reference.

f) Give it to me. I like that pen.

Referential it. In this case, it has clear reference: it refers to a DP introduced in the text
later on – that is, it has endophoric, cataphoric reference. It refers to “that pen”.

g) Don’t throw it away. It’s hard to get vinyl records in good condition.
The first it is referential, more precisely, it has exophoric reference to a record the
interlocutor is throwing away. We learn this from the context of the sentence. We
couldn’t say it refers cataphorically to “vinyl records” as the two expressions do not
coincide in number.
The second it is an expletive, in the context of an extraposed subject. The notional
subject is the TP “to get vinyl records in good condition”.

h) It was Mary that brought the cake, not Beth.

In this case, it is an expletive in the context of a cleft-sentence. The notional subject is
“Mary” but it is presented as new information and made prominent by moving it to a
post-verbal position. Thus, expletive it is inserted in spec TP to provide the clause with
a structural subject.

THERE
b) He didn’t want to be left there on his own.

Adverb of place: It is an adverb of place that realizes the location argument for the
three-place predicate “leave” (leave something somewhere). Its pronunciation would be
strong when read out and we can question it (Where was he left on his own?)

c) Is there anything to complain about?

Expletive There: It is used in an existential construction. It anticipates the indefinite

nominal “anything”. Being an expletive, it will be pronounced in weak form and it can
appear in question tags (There’s something to complain about, isn’t there?).

d) There he stayed, silent and motionless.

Locative Adverb: Locative complement in the context of the argument structure of the
unaccusative verb “stay”. It can be questioned (A: “Where did he stay?” B: “There”).
We can see it is not an expletive as there is no indefinite nominal associated with it.
e) There are too many people in this room, aren’t there?
Expletive There: It is used in the context of an existential construction to introduce
new elements. This is why it is associated with the indefinite nominal “many people”.
As the example shows the expletive pronoun can be used in question tags.
f) There went our chances of survival.
Locative Adverb: Locative complement of the unaccusative predicate “go”. It may
seem to be associated to the nominal “our chances”, but it isn’t, as this DP is not
indefinite.
g) Even then, there had been strange lakes of time when they would have a
moment of peace.
Expletive There: Existential construction in which “there” is associated with the
indefinite nominal “strange lakes of time”, which is introduced in the discourse for the
first time.