Wednesday, June 17, 2015

What grammar is used in "are there" for not a question & "is a compromise view" without a subject?




I have found 2 sentences in a law book, but I cannot figure out what grammar rules are used in them. Please advise.




  • 1.) In no state, however, are there [what rule, why such order of the words?] specific guidelines as to what constitutes participation in another business . . .



The above sentence is not a question, so why is there subject-auxiliary verb inversion?



In the following example, why is there no subject?





  • 2.) Between these two extremes, however, is a compromise view. [no subject? What rule is this?], which seems . . .


Answer



The first sentence is an example of negative inversion: after a negating, adverbial word or phrase, the subject and auxiliary (here the verb "to be") are often reversed in order:




There are no rules in any state




In no state (negation) are there any rules




Similarly:




In no way am I going to eat my peas!



Never has he travelled by bus.




Not until she went to France did she realise how much she loved baguettes.




The main reason to use this inversion is for formality; rarely is it used in everyday speech.



There are exceptions to this rule and times when it is optional. See Negative inversion for a good overview.



In your second sentence, "there", which would act as a subject, is simply omitted:





Between these two extremes (there) is a compromise view.




"There" in this case is the existential there - it is not an actual subject, though it can stand in for one. In your example sentence, it is simply not necessary.



Similarly:




In the garden (there) was a dog.




On the wall (there) was a giant spider.




Again, this is not common in everyday speech, and is usually used in formal circumstances or storytelling.


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