There or
it?
| There's a book on the
table. |
| It's a
dictionary. |
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Sentence
Structure
There/It +
be (is, are, was, were) + noun
| a.
'introductory' there |
There + is + a
book. (on the table) |
| b.
'real' it |
a book <-
It + is + a dictionary. |
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"real" it
It's a dictionary.
What is? The book on the table. There was a hurricane last night.
It was a hurricane.
What was? The thing that caused
all this damage.
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A
comparison of 'introductory' there
| a.
There would appear to have been a mistake
somewhere. |
| b. It
would appear to have been a mistake from start to
finish. |
| c.
There was a mistake somewhere. |
| d. It
was a mistake from start to finish. |
| What was?
Buying those shares, taking this course. |
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Examples
of 'introductory' it
| a. It's
difficult to please everybody. |
To please
everybody is difficult. |
| b. It's an
advantage being English. |
Being English
is an advantage. |
| c. It's a pity
that the weather is so bad. |
That the
weather is so bad is a pity. |
| d. It's
doubtful whether we'll get there in time. |
Whether we'll
get there in time is doubtful. |
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The
two uses of there
| a.
There's a book on the table. |
'introductory'
there |
| b.
Look, there's the book. |
'real'
there |
| c.
There's a lamp there too. |
'introductory'
and 'real' there |
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An ambiguous sentence
(real subject in italics)
| a.
It is difficult to read in this light. |
| b.
It (The
letter) is difficult to read in this light. |
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Relative
clauses: defining and non-defining
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Defining,
Non-defining
| Defining |
Non-defining |
necessary, defining |
not
necessary, extra information (by the way) |
| no
commas, no pause |
commas
(usually), pause |
| that
can be used |
that
not used |
| written
and spoken |
mostly
written |
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Examples
of defining / non-defining
| a. One of my brothers, who is 65, is
insane. |
(non-defining) |
| b. My brother
who is 65 is insane. |
(defining) |
| c. My father
and my brother are both insane, which is very unfortunate. |
(non-defining) |
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Relative pronouns
| |
defining / non-defining |
defining only |
| persons |
who, whom,
whose
the girl who
/ whom
I marry |
that
the girl that
I marry |
| things |
which
the disease which
I caught |
that
the disease that
I caught |
| places |
where, preposition +
which,
the town where
I was born |
that + preposition
the town that
I was born in |
| times |
when
the first time when
a man walked on the moon |
that
the first time that
a man walked on the moon |
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That, who, whom
| That's the man |
{ |
who
whom
that |
} |
I meant. |
Informal, spoken
| That's the man |
{ |
who
that |
} |
everyone is talking about. |
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Whose
| a. This is the
man whose house Jack built. |
(defining) |
| b. My father,
whose house was built by Jack, is 65 and crazy. |
(non-defining) |
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which I've
read are on your shelf.