[Grammar] Adjective Clause (why subject is omitted?)

[tzfujimino]

Hello.:-D

Yes.
He gave the same example sentence as I provided in my previous post (#15):

There's a man at the door wants to talk to you.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I wasn't aware that sentence came from Mr. Swan. I am surprised that he would use that as an example of correct usage, even an informal one.

 

[tzfujimino]

Hello.:-D
He doesn't actually tell us whether it's 'correct' or not. He just writes:

In a very informal style, a subject relative pronoun is sometimes dropped after there is.

I imagine he gave the example so that learners won't be surprised if they come across the construction.

 

[tzfujimino]

Hello.:-D
I was just watching this, and I happened to hear him using this construction. (around 13:30)

" [...] but fortunately, there's this very nice gentleman out there wants to buy the other half. [...] "

 

[Raymott]

Hello.:-D
I was just watching this, and I happened to hear him using this construction. (around 13:30)

But you must admit that that was told during a joke, and that Harrison Ford was adopting a character. One way of characterizing people in jokes is to make them talk in non-standard ways.

 

[MikeNewYork]

The problem with this construction is not the ending; it is the beginning. In the original, "a man at the door wants to talk to you" would make a natural grammatical sentence. In the second, "this very nice gentleman out there wants to buy the other half" would also be correct and natural. But neither fits well when the sentence begins with "There's" or "There is".