"There" for emphasis

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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pdh0224
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"There" for emphasis

Post by pdh0224 »

Dear teacher,

In a Grade 2 concussion, the person also remains conscious and has one or more symptoms of a Grade 1 concussion but also develops an inability to recall events just before or after the injury occurred. In this case, the symptoms last longer than 15 minutes. Only in a Grade 3 concussion is there a loss of consciousness when the victim is unresponsive to sound or light.


Q : I believe the function of "there" is an emphasis, isn't it?
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Alan
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Post by Alan »

Basically, yes: the so-called 'existential' there is an expletive adverbial serving to emphasize a NP. Normally preposed, it follows the verb here on account of the presence of the fronted restrictive adverbial 'only...concussion' (please see also my answer to your previous question).
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