◄ It and there | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 |

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[It and there #7]

Task (1): Search for it was there in the corpus and give an example of TWO different uses of it in that context.
Task (2): Explain the difference between the two uses of it in grammatical terms.
Task (3): What is the function of there in the search you have performed?



Suggested answer:
(1) Example of two different uses of it when part of the expression it was there:
And it was there that I met her... (cleft it)
But the trembling was fixed by the time he knew it was there. (referential it).

(2) Cleft it is an empty subject typically used to highlight a particular element of the clause. In the example above, there has been highlighted. Cleft it is used to achieve a different kind of focus than "normal" word order offers. Compare: "It was there that I met her." vs. "I met her there."

We use referential it in place of a full noun or NP. Referential it can have anaphoric or cataphoric reference to the element it replaces. In the example above it refers back to the trembling (i.e. anaphoric reference). Referential it is typically used to avoid unnecessary repetition of nouns.

(3) The function of there is that of adverbial; it is an adjunct of place.

Read about cleft it here, about it and there here
Terminology: adverbial, adjunct, cleft it, referential it

Last updated 4 October 2023, SOE
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