there happen to be

[rockpoison]

Hi
We use 'there V' construction to say something for the first time by end-focus
principle.
SO we can say 'there lived a king.''there resulted a market
failure.' and these actually have S + V construction.(S : a king, V :
lived)
Seeing 'there happen to be A, there seem to be A' a question arises as
to what on earth 'to be' is, which function they are performing in this
structure. In otherwords I want to understand
1. what 'to be' is and which
grammatical functions they are doing in this construction,
2. what structure
the sentence has in 'there happen to be A' (I guess S + V + C ?)

 

[teechar]

Some verbs in English can be followed by a full infinitive. "Happen" happens to be one of them!
Have a look here also:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/happen
;-)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Good question!

In this case, happen does not mean occur. It's an idiom that implies chance or fortune.

For example, you're talking about a time you were hungry:

- I was hungry. There happened to be an apple tree nearby, so I climbed it to get some apples.

You're saying that, just by chance, the tree was there.

- The job required someone who spoke Latin. I happened to be the only applicant who had studied it, so I got the job.

You're saying that it was your good fortune to have studied Latin.

It can also be about bad luck:

- The lion will eat the slowest runner, and I happen to be wearing SCUBA gear.

Just by chance, you have diving equipment on when the lion appears. You are lunch.

In the same sense, it can also refer to a random event:

- When I turned the corner, I happened upon a bookstore I'd heard about.

It was by chance that you found the bookstore. You had not been looking for it.

Does that help?