Howdy,
Uri, the awareness is interesting, probably showing the traumatic effects of prescriptive schooling.
Even President George H. W. Bush used "there's people" in non-formal speaking. It is interesting
that in languages like Spanish ('hay'), Turkish ('var'), and Chinese ('you') there is a single word
used to express the existential assertion. Probably English, left alone by teachers and editors, would
eventuate in a single form 'theres'.
--Rudy
Rudy Troike
University of Arizona
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From: Uri Horesh [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2013 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: Is vs. are research?
Even though I am, admittedly, kinda tired of this thread, I felt an urge to add the following anecdote that just appeared on my Twitter feed:
@quixoticblazes: Just just overheard, re: restaurants in Chelsea: "God, there's [sic] people everywhere." (Gurl, you must be from out of town.)
Quick & dirty analysis: Even though the writer himself doesn't shy way from non-standardisms (e.g., "Just just," "Gurl"), he made a point to indicate that there was something out of the ordinary with "there's people" by interjecting a "[sic]" between those two words.
I'll say no more.
Uri
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