Abstract

This study aims to investigate the English existential construction for Chinese students. It is always difficult for the students to obtain the existential construction in English learning. Some studies have discussed this issue however few solutions have been proposed to deal with this problem. This study has carried on empirical analysis on the production of existential construction for EFL learners in China. This study chooses three groups of students as subjects. It suggests that students like to turn to there-be simple structures to simplify some complicated expressions. They also tend to use there-be simple structures as clauses. As to those complex subtypes, students are inclined to employ there + present participle and there + attributive clause. Students seldom choose to use there absolute structures. The errors students make are categorized as: Pseudo-relative clause, inappropriate V + ing, disagreement, comma splice.

Keywords:

English learning, existential construction, subtypes, transfer,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

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Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.