C2 point 64 in DETERMINERS/demonstratives is defined as:
‘this’ with nouns and noun phrases in a narrative to create a sense of immediacy.
All the examples in the English Grammar Profile follow the pattern ‘There + BE + this + noun phrase’
A search on iWeb for:
there_EX _VB this _N
1 THERE ‘S THIS THING 446
2 THERE WAS THIS GUY 443
I read it, and there was this guy that was raped in jail for a crime that he didn’t commit.
3 THERE ‘S THIS GUY 330
4 THERE IS THIS THING 319
5 THERE ‘S THIS IDEA 269
6 THERE WAS THIS GIRL 211
7 THERE IS THIS IDEA 193
8 THERE IS THIS GUY 183
9 THERE IS THIS DIFFERENCE 178
10 THERE WAS THIS THING 154
11 THERE IS THIS SENSE 136
12 THERE ‘S THIS GIRL 136
There’s this girl at school…
13 THERE WAS THIS SENSE 132
14 THERE ‘S THIS SENSE 131
15 THERE ‘S THIS KIND 128
16 THERE IS THIS KIND 124
17 THERE WAS THIS IDEA 121
18 THERE ‘S THIS FEELING 118
19 THERE WAS THIS MAN 108
20 THERE ‘S THIS NOTION 101
21 THERE IS THIS GIRL 95
22 THERE WAS THIS KIND 91
23 THERE WAS THIS WOMAN 86
24 THERE WAS THIS FEELING 85
25 THERE WAS THIS TIME 84
26 THERE IS THIS FEELING 81
27 THERE IS THIS NOTION 79
28 THERE WAS THIS MOMENT 79
29 THERE ‘S THIS SORT 75
C2 vocabulary: perception:
30 THERE IS THIS PERCEPTION 72
31 THERE ‘S THIS PERCEPTION 65
*I don’t believe it requires ‘narrative’ or ‘immediacy’ to demonstrate the complexity of this grammar structure.
Washington Post