本专著的主要内容包括：（1）存在句的类型；（2）存在句的基本句法特征；（3）如何对不同类型的存在句进行句法—语义分析；（4）哪些成分可充当存在型强势主位及如何将它们建构成一个存在型强势主位系统；（5）存在句中的“存在”意义可由哪些动词体现及如何运用韩礼德把“词汇当作最精细的语法”的思想来系统描述这些动词；（6）存在句具备哪些语篇功能及其不同的语篇功能与不同的体裁的语篇之间的关系如何。

List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Types of enhanced theme constructions
1.2 The existential enhanced theme construction
1.2.1 "The EET construction" as a choice
1.2.2 Four types of EET constructions
1.3 Theoretical orientation
1.4 Objectives and research questions
1.5 Terms used in other studies
1.6 Data and methodology
1.7 The organization of the book
Chapter 2 A Review of Previous Studies
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Traditional descriptive approaches
2.2.1 Jespersen (1937/1984, 1945/1965)
2.2.2 Bolinger (1977)
2.2.3 Quirk and Greenbaum (1973) and Quirk et al.(1985)
2.2.4 Huddleston (1984, 1988)
2.2.5 Biber et al.(1999/2000)
2.2.6 Huddleston and Pullum (2002)
2.3 Generative grammar approaches
2.3.1 Chomsky (1981)
2.3.2 Lumsden (1988)
2.3.3 Chomsky (1995)
2.3.4 Han (2001)
2.3.5 Tang (2001)
2.4 Functional approaches
2.4.1 Scottetal(1968)
2.4.2 Dik (1980, 1981)
2.4.3 Hannay (1985)
2.4.4 Young (1980)
2.4.5 Morley (2000)
2.4.6 Kuno and Takami (2004)
2.5 The Madrid Grammar approach
2.6 Concluding remarks
Chapter 3 The Existential Enhanced Theme Construction: Towards a Theory-Neutral Description
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Basic characteristics of the construction
3.2.1 There
3.2.2 The Main Verb
3.2.3 Subject-verb agreement and a tentative account
3.2.4 The postverbal nominal group
3.2.5 The post-ngp element
3.3 Summary and conclusion
Chapter 4 The Theoretical Framework
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Systemic functional grammar
4.2.1 Scales and categories
4.2.2 System and system network
4.2.3 Metafunctions and semantic networks in the Sydney Grammar
4.3 The Cardiff Grammar
4.3.1 History background
4.3.2 The main components in the Cardiff Grammar
4.3.3 Semantic system networks in the Cardiff Grammar
4.3.4 Realization rules
4.3.5 Form: realization in syntax
4.4 Concluding remarks
Chapter 5 An Alternative Systemic Functional Approach
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Sydney Grammar approaches
5.2.1 Halliday's approach
5.2.2 Matthiessen (1995)
5.2.3 Downing and Locke (1992)
5.2.4 Thompson (1996/2000) and Huang (1997, 1999)
5.3 The Cardiff Grammar approach
5.3.1 The experiential meaning of the EET construction
5.3.2 Fawcett's syntactic-semantic analysis and minor adjustments
5.3.3 Two existential enhanced theme analyses
5.4 The thematic options in the EET construction
5.5 The relationship to the non-enhanced version
5.6 The syntactic-semantic analysis of different types of EET constructions
5.6.1 The locational EET construction
5.6.2 The attributive EET construction
5.6.3 The directional EET construction
5.6.4 The possessive EET construction
5.7 Summary and conclusions
Chapter 6 The Semantics of the Verbs in the EET Construction
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Lexis as "most delicate grammar"
6.3 The exploration of the grammarian's dream
6.3.1 Berry (1977)
6.3.2 Fawcett (1980, 1987)
6.3.3 Hasan (1987)
6.3.4 Cross (1992)
6.3.5 Tucker (1996, 1998)
6.4 The semantics of the verbs in the EET construction
6.4.1 Previous classifications
6.4.2 The systemic representation of the verbs in the construction
6.5 Concluding remarks
Chapter 7 Discourse Functions
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Huang's taxonomy and Zhang's "system"
7.3 The discourse functions
7.3.1 The initiation function
7.3.2 The continuation function
7.3.3 The concluding function
7.3.4 The correction function
7.4 Concluding remarks
Chapter 8 Summary and Conclusions
8.1 Introduction
8.2 The main arguments
8.2.1 Systemic functional orientation
8.2.2 A tentative account
8.2.3 Challenging the restrictions in