Which verbs apart from the pure copula follow the existential 'there'?


The existential 'there' is usually followed by a form of the verb 'to be', used as a pure copula.


For instance, rather than saying, a wrench is on the bench, you'd say there's a wrench on the bench.


Biber, Conrad and Leech (2002) list a number of syncategorematic/copular verbs which can also follow the existential 'there', eg:


There used to be a house ... there's supposed to be a plot ... there seems to have been a mistake ... there's said to be a ghost ...


They don't make a distinction which I've noticed about what I call 'emergent-type' verbs, always used in the past, describing, as I see it, an action which has emerged, but seems as yet incomplete, eg:


...there arose such as clatter ... there appeared a great multitude ... there emerged, out of the freshly tilled soil, ...


I noticed today another type which I hadn't clocked before ... the use of the intransitive after 'Once upon a time', eg:


Once upon a time, there lived ...


I can't think of an instance where you'd use a transitive verb in this construction.


Are there any other types of verbs that can follow the existential 'there' in declarative sentences that you know of that I can add to my list?




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