有一读者问：有这样一道选择题：
(1)No one would have time to read or listen to an account of everything_________going on in the world.
A. it is B. as is C. there is D. what is
答案是C， 为什么？
这牵涉到“（that 或which)there be”结构（除非在正式文体中，关系代词that 和which皆常省去不用）用作定语从句的问题。这种由“（that或which）there be”结构构成的定语从句一般皆为限制性定语从句，大致可分为两类。一类是其先行词前有具有特指功能的定冠词the, 如：
(2)We are trying hard to narrow the gap （that ）there is between town and country. （定语从句[that] there is所修饰的先行词gap之前有定冠词the）
(3)He recalled the bitter fight there had been with Eloise. （先行词bitter fight之前有定冠词the）
这一类句子结构的先行词之前也常用“the +形容词最高级”，如：
(4)It is the best dictionary (that)there is .
(5)I have heard some of the finest singers there are .
同样，先行词之前也常用“the only”，如：
(6)It was the only cotton mill (that)there was then.
另一类是其先行词前有泛指代词如all, every, any， what等，上述句（1）中的everything 即属于这一类。再如：
(7)That's all there is to it.
(8)I have told all (that)there is to tell.
(9)He wondered how his father ever found time to ever learn so much—about everything there was to know, it seemed.
(10)In every kind of business there is , the people you meet can teach you something.
(11)I can do any practical work (that)there is to be done.
(12)They left what resistance there was to a handful of workers and unemployed.
(13)The day wore on; the reports from Cuba continued sketchy, but whatever news there was was bad.
注意这种there be 结构的主语也可以是关系代词as, 如：
(14)Such wind as there was came up the river.
最后，应该指出，有时“which there be”可以用作非限制性定语从句，如：
(15)But all right, Mr.Poggioli, suppose there is a La Froude, which there isn't .
