Quote Originally Posted by oldboy View Post
sperk,
I know the constructions with "there + to be" such as:
There is the ice on the lake.
There are some people outside.
There might be drinks if you wait for a bit.
etc
That is exactly the type of sentence we are talking about. "There are" has the same function in all of them. The first one, though, should have no article before "ice".

I comprehend the sentence: There are just a few of the 'wireless telegraphs' the factory produced.
I comprehend the sentence: Just a few of the 'wireless telegraphs' the factory produced left in the world.
But There are just a few of the 'wireless telegraphs' the factory produced left in the world. remains unintelligible to me (It so happens that there are two predicate: "are" and "left" but that is not possible.
Sperk is almost right, "left" is a past participle here, denoting passive. Consider: "There are only a few biscuits left (over)". Maybe you can see it better when I add "over"; this sentence means that only few biscuits remain. "Left" is not past tense of "leave" as in "Elvis left the building", but its past participle. "Are" is the only predicate here.

Your sentence:

Just a few of the 'wireless telegraphs' the factory produced left in the world.

is actually grammatically incorrect, so whatever you seem to understand here is misunderstood. This sentence lacks a conjugated verb, and it is not even possible to see "left" as a conjugated verb here. It would be different if "in" were dropped, then the wireless telegraphs would have packed their things and left the world for someplace else, but that is clearly a nonsensical sentence.