中國學生使用英文時有過度使用there be句型的傾向。相關研究顯示這種過度使用的現象可歸溯於多重原因：受中文「有─」句型的影響，中文特殊語篇功能及其屬於「主題突出性語言」(topic-prominent language) 之特質的作用，以及中文傾向使用限定主詞的特性。本研究旨在深入了解上述因素如何交互作用而導致中國學生過度使用這種特有的中英文中介語 (Chinese-English interlanguage) 句型。分析的資料包括中國學生英文作文中含有there be句型的60篇文章，以及261位中國文化大學學生接受代換測驗的結果。作文分析係由兩位研究員獨立進行，並經由反覆比對的方式以達到分析結果的信度及效度。代換測驗則以統計次數頻率來比較不同程度的學生在理解及使用there be句型上的差異。本研究驗証了先前相關研究的觀察與假設：中國學生there be句型的過度使用係因﹝一﹞中文類似句型「有─」句型的轉換作用，﹝二﹞中文的「主題突出性」導致中國學生傾向使用there be句型來引介語篇中之新主題，﹝三﹞中文傾向使用限定主詞的現象導致學生使用there be句型來規避英文中較常出現的非限定主詞。本研究顯示母語對第二語言習得的影響不侷限於表面句型的異同，相關中英文句型的語意、語言功能和語法的交互作用才是導致中國學生使用某些「中英文中介語」更深層的原因。

There be sentences have been observed to occur excessively in the performance of Chinese learners of English. This overgeneration problem is assumed to arise from the interactions of the syntactic structure, the semantic import as well as the discourse function of the learners’ native and target language. Through the analysis of a corpus of Chinese learners of English and a substitution test, the assumptions about the causes of this interlanguage phenomenon are confirmed. The results of the present study show that the structural resemblance between Mandarin you-sentences and English there be structures facilitate, to a great extent, the occurrence of the interlanguage there be sentences. Pragmatically, the topic-prominence of Mandarin may predispose Chinese learners to employ there be to introduce a new referent into the L2 discourse. Semantically, the definiteness constraint on Mandarin subjects has been shown to exert considerable influence on Chinese learners’ tendency to overuse English there be sentences. This cross-linguistic study lends empirical support to the claim that Chinese learners’ overproduction of there be sentences is attributable to the interaction of the inherent properties and functions of the learners’ L1 and L2.