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I [originally asked in the
chatroom](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/12674545#12674545)
which out of the two phrases is better:

> PlaceにThingがありますか？

or

> ThingがPlaceにありますか？

If anyone can translate these to make them relevant in English, it would be
welcomed by all means.

[Darius Jahandarie](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/users/3097/darius-
jahandarie) suggested some examples to make sense of what I'm talking about:

> 学校{がっこう}に子供{こども}たちがいますか？

VS

> 子供{こども}たちが/は学校{がっこう}にいますか？

As well as:

> ロンドンに山{やま}がありますか？

VS

> 山{やま}がロンドンにありますか？

Is there anyone who can explain the difference, and possibly where the
appropriate place to use both of them is?
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particle-に particle-が word-order
PlaceにThingがあります vs ThingがPlaceにあります
It's an information structure and presentation question. The first constituent
is typically topic, and the second one is focus:

子供が学校にいる。 (The) kids are at school. (as opposed to somewhere else)

学校に子供がいる。 There are kids at school. (as opposed to, say, adults, or no one at
all)

Like Darius has said, with questions, they become the following:

子供が学校にいるのか？ Are the kids at school? (as opposed to somewhere else)

学校に子供がいるのか？ Are there kids at school? (as opposed to someone else)

It's a bit confusing, as the は/が distinction also has to do with the same
information structure stuff. Certainly the first one needs は instead of が to
really work right. However, since は is a topic particle, it almost always goes
in the topic slot - it can only go in the focus slot if you're comparing
things:

学校に子供はいるけど大人はいない。 The kids are at school, but the adults aren't.

*学校に子供はいる。 is ungrammatical outside of this context, as far as I know.

Basically, the topic slot is for old information (things that are already
being talked about) and the focus slot is for new and/or contrastive
information (things that are just being mentioned, or things that are being
compared). With questions, this works out to the second (focus) slot being
filled with what's directly being questioned - so, in the first example, it's
where the kids are that's in question; and in the second, it's who is at
school that's in question.
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Perhaps a simple answer is best?

As I think you know, the two sentences literally mean the same thing and in
Japanese it is grammatically correct to change the order.

The key concept is context and the good news is that it works much the same
way in English. The order depends on what you want to communicate in a given
situation.

For example:

子供が学校にいる。might be used to say "The kids are at school." (as opposed to
somewhere else)

学校に子供がいる。 might be used to say "There are kids at school." (as opposed to,
say, adults, or no one at all)

But, these are only examples and there will be other alternative ways to say
the same thing.

_Notes_ :

  1. This is one of those things that becomes clearer with practice. 

  2. I have deliberately avoided mentioning the use が／は because there other very good answers to questions on this topic which is much wider (and more confusing) than your original question.
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