Short existentials
Short existentials, many containing a negative word specifying no quantity or number such as no, none, nobody/ no-one and nothing, are common in everyday English, as in the following examples:
1 There’s no problem.
2 There’s no point staying on then, is there?
3 There’s nothing wrong, nothing at all.
4 There’s nothing on television.
5 There’s no-one around today.
6 There’s none left.
One of the functions of negation is to deny something previously said or implied, and this may be the motivation for some utterances in context (3 and 6, for instance). But speech acts such as reassurance (1 and 3) may be the motive for the denial. Positive declarative existentials may provide factual information (8) or, when they refer to the future, may be interpreted as predictions (7) or assurances (9):
7 I think this is a long-term battle. There will be battles. (George W. Bush, remarks to the employees of the Pentagon, 17 September 2001)
8 There have been heavy snowfalls in the north.
9 There is bound to be another opportunity.
