there be

== English == === Etymology === The expletive there, from Old English þær, to fill the first position in English's historic V2 word order. === Pronunciation === === Verb === there be (highly irregular; see conjugation table) Of the specified thing: to exist, physically or abstractly. Synonym: there exist There are two apples on the table. [=Two apples are on the table.] There is no way to do it. [=No way to do it exists.] Is there an answer? [=Does an answer exist?] No, there isn't. [=No, one doesn't exist.] There seems to be some difficulty with the papers. [=It seems that there is some difficulty with the papers.] I expected there to be a simpler solution. [=I expected that there would be a simpler solution.] There are beginning to be complications. [=It's beginning to be the case that there are complications.] 1749, Anthony Ashley Cooper Shaftesbury, Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, J. Baskerville, page 8: If there be any thing ILL in the Univerſe from Deſign, then that which diſpoſes all things, is no one good deſigning Principle. 1907, Southern Society for Clinical Investigation, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, J.B. Lippincott, Co., page 627: Unless there be some lesion of the stomach, there is no blood, either microscopic or occult. For more quotations using this term, see Citations:there be. ==== Usage notes ==== When introducing more than one noun phrase, the verb often agrees with the number of the first noun phrase. Whether distinctions are made for pluralization can vary from one speaker to the next. There is a swing and a seesaw for kids. Still behaves grammatically as separate words there + be, in that the non-finite forms (subjunctive, infinitive) nearly always break up the phase with to, i.e. there to be, as in e.g. “were there to be …” or “in order for there to be …”. This pseudo-infinitive there to be, unlike the true infinitive construction with “to …”, cannot be used as a standalone nominal infinitive (though there is a rare gerund there being) nor as an infinitive of purpose. (Examples of ungrammatical phrases: *There to be rain would be a reason to bring an umbrella; *There to be a big enough party, you must invite more people.) ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === References === === Anagrams === be there