impersonal construction (there appears)

[licinio]

I'm not sure about this impersonal construction which may be wrong (I don't know what agreement requires the verb, for instance), sound too literary, etc.
Will you give me tips on how to use it and in case replace it with a better phrasing? Thanks.

Next to this, there appear the first signs of Tibetan culture, with writings in the beautiful script that has long curved stems to certain letters going way up and down the line.

From this article

[TheParser]

I'm not sure about this impersonal construction which may be wrong (I don't know what agreement requires the verb, for instance), sound too literary, etc.
Will you give me tips on how to use it and in case replace it with a better phrasing? Thanks.

Next to this, there appear the first signs of Tibetan culture, with writings in the beautiful script that has long curved stems to certain letters going way up and down the line.

From this article

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) As I understand it, the purpose of the "there" construction is to "throw" the subject

toward the end of the sentence. For example, I can say "The United States has 50

states" or "There are 50 states in the United States," It would sound strange to say

"50 states are in the United States."

(2) My teachers told me that when you want to choose the correct verb form

(singular or plural), just pretend that the word "there" has disappeared.

(3) I read your interesting link. "There ____ the first signs of Tibetan culture."

Now let's forget "there," so we are left with: ___ the first signs of Tibetan culture.

Then we put the sentence in correct order, and we get: The first signs of Tibetan

culture are ....

(4) Concrete buildings seven storeys [floors] high are .... (OR: There are concrete

buildings seven stories high ,,,,)

(5) IMHO, the "there" construction is often NOT literary. For example, we

would say "There's a party on Friday. Can you come?" The literary/formal

might be: A party is scheduled for Friday. May we have the pleasure of

your company?

(6) I agree with you that the sentence that you have given us is literary. No one

would speak like this. If you did, you would sound like a book. If you were writing to a

friend, you might express the idea something like this:


Then I saw some Tibetan writings. The script with long curved stems going way up and

down is really beautiful. They say that these writings were the first signs of Tibetan

culture. (As you can see, I needed three sentences for an informal letter to a friend

or in a conversation. In a formal sentence, however, everything was explained neatly

in one sentence.)

[licinio]

Thank you very much for a comprehensive explanation, it was very useful.

PS I realise I used the word sign with a meaning you interpreted in a different way. I meant signs as manifestation (is it a possible meaning?), but, being in a sentence that also talked about writing, you took it to mean character or letter.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=licinio;797797]

PS I realise I used the word sign with a meaning you interpreted in a different way. I meant signs as manifestation (is it a possible meaning?)

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) I believe that you are 100% correct.

(2) If I had written that sentence, I would have used the singular to avoid

any misunderstanding: "There appears the first sign of Tibetan culture, with writings

in ...."