I need to know what kind of stores or entertainment i can find on Broadway. Should I ask: "What is there on Broadway?" or "What is on Broadway?" Can "there" be used in a question?
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... entertainment halls, sorry– zenith3Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 13:12
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You can edit your question - click "edit"– user20574Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 14:31
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2 Answers
You can definitely use "there" in questions as you've used it here -- "What is there on Broadway?" and "What is on Broadway?" mean the same thing, though the first seems a smidge more natural/idiomatic to me.
That said, if someone asked me "What's on Broadway?", absent some other context, I would interpret the speaker to be asking "What shows are currently being performed in the Broadway theater district?" rather than "What stores and entertainment halls are there on Broadway?" I'm a bit of a theater buff, so that may be coloring my interpretation, but regardless, "What's there to do on/around Broadway?" would unambiguously communicate that you're asking something more general than that.
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If speaker wishes to know "What shows are currently being performed in the Broadway theater district?" I think he'd ask What's on on Broadway? (native speakers have no problem repeating prepositions like that). If there was just a single preposition, that would have to associate with "Broadway" (as a "preposition of location"), which kinda loses the "active / available" sense conveyed by the first (of two) instance in my version (by far the most likely context). I think it comes down to whether questioner cares more about the shows or the location (probably the former). Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 14:28
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@FumbleFingersReinstateMonica I am a native speaker and "What's on on Broadway?" sounds super bad to me -- not necessarily because of the double prepositions (you're right, they're fine in some contexts) but because it's just not natural to use "What's on [in/on some place]?" as the question to inquire about something like that, at least not in the (AmE) dialects I'm familiar with. I've certainly never heard "What's on on Broadway?" used and it would sound like an error or stutter if I heard someone say it instead of the much more natural "What's on Broadway?" (which I have heard before) Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 20:34
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I do think that the "What is there on Broadway?" is more likely to be interpreted as a question about the location than "What's on Broadway?" is. Commented Mar 12, 2020 at 20:35
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We've got a great guide on what's on on BBC One and Two. I'd much prefer the first on there to be to, but that's simply because in my version of English it's the wrong preposition. I have no problem with to be on = currently or scheduled soon to be on show being coupled to a "location" (on Broadway, on the TV). Commented Mar 13, 2020 at 16:35
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@FumbleFingersReinstateMonica May be a dialectical difference then -- I'm American, and that source is British. Use of "What on on X?" sounds weird to me in your example as well, but it's significantly less bad for TV programs than for Broadway -- perhaps because you could speak of a TV being "on" or ask simply "What's on?" for TV programs, whereas that language isn't generally used to the same extent wrt Broadway. Commented Mar 16, 2020 at 13:56
Yes, it can.
"There is" is used to say that something exists. In this construction, the word "there" does not mean a place. Example: "There is a shopping mall on Broadway."
To ask whether something exists, you can say "Is there ...?"
Example: "Is there a subway station on Broadway?"
Answer: "There is a subway station on Broadway." - or "Yes."
To ask which things exist, you can say "What is there ...?"
Example: "What is there on Broadway?"
Example: "What is there in the shopping mall on Broadway?"
Possible answer: "There is a McDonald's in the shopping mall on Broadway." - or "A McDonald's."
(I don't know what there actually is on Broadway, so my answers are generic)
You can also ask (most commonly) "Why is there ...?" and "When is there ...?", and less commonly "How is there ...?" and "Where is there ...?". (I don't think I've ever heard "Who is there ...?")
