在这，我们愿意讨论一下一些读者提到的有关 there be 结构的问题。
第一个问题是：有的语法书上说， there be 结构常后接表非特指的限定词如 a, some, any, no 等，不可后接表特指的限定词 the，请问这种说法对吗？
这种说法不完全对。there be 之后的确常接非特指的名词，如：
(1)There is a book on the table.（用不定冠词 a 表非特指）
(2)There must be some important difference between the two. （用 some 表非特指）
(3)There was no time to finish the work.（用 no 表非特指）
(4)There are people and people.（用零冠词表非特指）
但如说 there be 之后不可用“the+名词”就不对了。从我们掌握的资料看，至少在下面一些场合可用“there be + the + 名词”结构：
1. 用于列举事物，如：
(5)The stories of the TV dramas have little substantial content, but the list of production workers at the end is as long as running water. Besides the play-wright, director, actor, camera, operator, there are the composer, soloist, conductor, dubbing actor, make-up artist, costume manager, property master...and so on.
(6)Well, she would go out and find her. There was the harness closet and there was the hayloft.
有时则用于举例，如：
(7)Scott translated some things which will never be dissociated from his name. From the German, for example, there are the ballads of Burger, “Lenore” and “The Wild Huntsman”.
有时与 then, still, also 等词连用，如：
(8)The religious bias is almost necessarily opposed to fair criticism. Then there is the national feeling, the strong prejudice of country and race.（与 then 连用）
(9)Buying so much at once was a heady experience, one she'd get used to if she succeeded as a decorator...And there was still the china.（与 still 连用）
(10)Behind the office is a room where in aquaria are many living animals； there also are the microscopes and the slides and the drug cabinets, the cases of laboratory glass, the work benches and little motors, the chemicals.（与 also 连用）
亦可用于分类（这也是一种列举用法），如：
(11)Speeches may broadly be divided into two kinds. There is the speech a man makes when he has something to say, and the speech he endeavours to make when he has to say something.
2. 用于提醒对方或引人注意，如：
(12)“It's good brandy,”the man said, “why not a half dozen, father, for twenty-four pesos?” He said slyly, “After all, father — there are the baptisms。”
（说话人劝神甫多买点白兰地，并提醒他反正有洗礼费）
下面是用以引人注意的一例：
(13)There is the psychological novel but the example of George Meredith has shown that it has no chance of ever becoming popular.
这种用以引人注意的结构往往以不定式结尾，如：
(14)There's the man next door to consider.
有时让人注意的是一个问题，如：
(15)— Do you think there's any chance that you could get a job in Paris?
— There's the small question of money. Airplane fares, a place to live. Little things like that.
3. 用于回答某种疑问句，如：
(16)— Have we any loose cash in the house?
— Well, there's the money in the box over there.
(17)— The weather was fine yesterday?
— What do you mean by “fine”?
— There was the sun.
4. 表示不愉快或轻蔑的情绪，如：
(18)There was the terrible experience when he arrived unexpectedly from South America to learn she had gone off with Iglesias.
(19)Ideologically members of the Klan are driven by white supremacy, cloaked in patriotism and religion. There is the disturbing appeal to young people.
以上例句中的“there be + the + 名词”结构皆属于列举的范畴。下面两种情况中的“there be + the + 名词”则是语法上的需要：
1. 主语之后有定语或同位语，如：
(20)In the garden there was the smell of apple blossoms.（主语 smell 之后有定语 of apple blossoms）
(21)I mean I had quarrelled with my parents. And there was the problem that Jenny was an only child.（主语 problem 后有同位语从句）
(22)There was the time the woman was here with her little girl.（主语 time 后有定语从句）
2. 用于形容词最高级，如：
(23)There must not be the least let-up in our work.
(24)There was the briefest of pauses, ...
最后，还有几点需要注意：
1. there be 之后除可用定冠词 the 之外，还可用指示代词、物主代词、专有名词等表特指的词，如：
(25)There is this groping upwards of the dusky underdog.（用指示代词 this）
(26)— And there are thes e rumours...
— Yes, but you mustn't get so worked up about rumours. （用指示代词 these）
(27)There was the same thing, the same life, the same worn-out couch, the same dreary looking plants year after year.（用指示代词 the same）
(28)Then there's his sister； we mustn't forget her.（用物主代词 his）
(29)There was Oral Roberts of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who runs a university on donations from 841,000 households...（用专有名词 Oral Roberts）
2. 除 there be 之后可用 the 等限定词外，“there + 其他动词”之后亦可用 the 等限定词，如：
(30)When she stopped, there followed the strangest silence.
(31)While he was thus thinking, there suddenly entered his room the figure of a woman robed in green and grey； ...
3. 上述例句中的定冠词有不少是形为特指实为泛指的情况。如例（23）、（24）、（30）中的形容词最高级实际上即是泛指，意为“非常”。例（20）中的 the smell 亦泛指 apple blossoms 的香味。
4. “there be + the 等限定词”结构尽管可以见到，但相对说来，使用频率仍然较低。
最近英国出版的《朗文英语语法》（The Longman English Grammar ）（作者是著名的语法家Louis Alexander）亦持此说，他所用的原话是 relatively rare （比较罕见，见该书10.21）。他所举的一例是：
(32)— What can we carry this shopping in?
— There's the /this /my briefcase. Will that be all right?
关于第一个问题，我们就谈到这里吧。现在让我们讨论第二个有关 there be 结构的问题，即引词 there 之后除可跟动词 be 之外，还可跟哪些动词？
there be 结构中除可用动词 be 外，具体还有多少或哪些动词可用，我们没有统计资料。
但可以肯定，为数是有限的，而且比较文气。这些动词可分为两大类，一类是不及物动词，一类是及物动词。前者占绝大多数，后者则屈指可数。
不及物动词又可分为三小类如下：
1. 与 be 相近的动词，如 appear, seem, happen 等，这些动词多有半助动词的性质，其后可接不定式 to be，以加强其语势，例：
(33)There appears to be something wrong with the engine.
(34)At times there seemed really nothing the matter with him.
(35)There happened to be a severe drought that year.
2. 表静态的动词，如：remain, live, lie, stand, exist, stand, belong 等，例：
(36)There lived an old peasant and his two sons in that house.
(37)There remains nothing more to be done.
(38)There, sure enough, crusted with red rust, there lay an iron shoe-buckle.
(39)Here on the left hand there stands a shop window filled with photographs.
(40)There exist a number of similar medieval crosses in different parts of the country.
(41)There belongs to the history of fifteenth century English literature a very pretty story not to be found in literary text books.
3. 表动态的动词，如 arrive, come, enter, pass, follow, ride, run, die, fly, flash, sail, break, go 等。例：
(42)Then there arrived Mr. Brassy, her father's solicitor, from Cater Hill.
(43)There came to his mind her beautiful and intelligent face.
(44)Suddenly there entered a strange figure all in black.
(45)As he hastened, there passed through his mind pictures of stupendous conflicts.
(46)There followed an uncomfortable silence.
(47)In front of the carriage, there rode two men in magnificent uniforms.
(48)There runs a river in the distance.
(49)On December 28, 1859 there died at Holy Lodge, Campden Hill, Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay.
(50)Just when he had remounted the pulpit there flew out of the loft not one but half a dozen bats.
(51)There flashed through his mind the image of a heroic fighter.
(52)There sailed a hold mariner over the sea...Then came unfavorable winds.
(53)Then, upon this stillness, there suddenly broke a tremendous clangor of sounds.
(54)In the ancient days there went three men upon pilgrimages.
这种表动态的动词还应包括一些表刚出现或发生的动词，如 occur, rise, arise, emerge, spring up 等。例：
(55)Not long after this there occurred a sudden revolution in public tastes.
(56)There rose in his imagination grand visions of a world empire.
(57)In the 1960s, there emerged in America two theories of linguistic universals, the typological school and the generative school.
(58)There sprang up a wild gale.
there 后接及物动词的情况要少得多，如：
(59)There reached him the chug-chug of a diesel engine.
(60)There struck me a sudden idea.
(61)There then addressed the meeting the new leader of the party.
但 there 后接被动式的情况并不罕见，如：
(62)There is displayed a great deal of courage.
(63)There were found various relics in the ancient tomb.
(64)There are now published millions of books every year in China.
(65)I told how they had gone to the high mountains to drill wells in a region where therewas thought to be no water.
下面两句中的 take place 和 cross one's path 则可看作不及物动词：
(66)There took place between him and his son a violent and painful scene. （took place=happened）
(67)If there crossed her path a man with a strong protective arm, he was whisked away. （crossed her path = came in her way）
