Re: Odd construct

Matthew Kehrt wrote:
>
> The problem with that idea, I think, is that be is conjugated to agree
> with the object, if that were true.  That is, one says, where I live,
>
> There ARE butterflies.
>
> but,
>
> There IS a butterfly.
>
> So, there does not seem to be the subject.
> -M
Hmm. In my dialect (or idiolect, as the case may be), one can say one of
the two you've mentioned up there, but also

There'S butterflies.

but not,

*There IS butterflies.
or
*There ARE a butterfly.

So that might complicate things somewhat.

I'd be tempted to say that it's, as I think have been mentioned, a
throwback to English's days as a verb-second language - just some
strange word-order quirk. "There's butterflies." could just be some
dialectical mumbo-jumbo.

--
Robert