Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[rrock]

Dear friends:
In the fellowing sentence:
Within the Kremlin lie beautiful churches, museums, palaces, and the President of Russia's residence.
1.Why does the sentence use "lie" instead of "lies" ?
2. What does "of" mean?
3.Can I say "Within the Kremlin lie beautiful churches, museums, palaces, and the residence of the President of Russia." ?
Please tell me.
thanks

[rice07]

Hi

Here's another example for your reference:

On top of the hill lies a beautiful villa.

= A beautiful villa lies on the top of the hill.

So, " Within the Kremlin lie beautiful churches, museums, palaces, and the President of Russial's residence. "

= " Beautiful churches, museums, palaces, and the President of Russia's residence lie within the Kremlin."

In this case, it's a kind of inversion connected with the adverbial expression of place that comes at the beginning of a clause(a sentence) .

As for #3, I agree with you there(so I suppose I don't need to explain #2), but the author's attempt sounds more streamlined. If wrong, please correct me!

[rrock]

Dear rice07:
Thanks for you help. You are really a nice guy.