> En réponse à Matthew Kehrt <matrix14@...>:
>
> > Hey, all, a question.
> >
> > If I say spomething along the lines of "There are butterflies", what
> > is
> > the subject of the sentence? I've heard it has none. How does this
> > work?
> >
>
> I think that historically, "butterflies" is the subject (which explains
> the
> agreement of the verb). But nowadays I think you here more and more
> sentences
> like "there's butterflies", so I guess you can take "there" as subject,
> or even
> consider that the whole is an impersonal sentence (like in French "il y
> a"
> corresponding to "there is", but this expression is invariable and the
> "il"
> seems to correspond to the "il" of sentences like "il pleut": "it
> rains", i.e.
> impersonal).
>
> Christophe.
>
>
http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
>