structure/ pronoun it

Question

As a child, Sparky didn't have many friends. It wasn't that people didn't like him; they simply didn't notice him.

Q1) What does "it" refer to?

Q2) I was wondering if there is a structure it + wasn't + a that clause.

What I normally see is like this.
It wasn't fruit!
It wasn't delicious!
I.e., It + wasn't + a noun or an adjective.

GPY · Accepted Answer

"it isn't/wasn't that X ..." is a set pattern for stating that X is/was untrue, often (as here) implying a contrast with some other statement that is more accurate. "it" is a dummy or anticipatory it. It is not a simple substitute for another noun.

Park sang joon · Answer

I think slightly differently from GPY.
I think "That Sparky didn't have many friends wasn't because people didn't like him" is easier for you to understand.

Fivejedjon · Answer

park sang joonI think slightly differently from GPY.

You do indeed. GPY was correctly and helpfully responding to moon's question about the structure of a sentence.

Park sang joon · Answer

I dare not disapprove of his opinion.
My opinion has come from my grammar reference published in Korea, and I hoped moon would just know the Korean way.

GPY · Answer

park sang joonI think "That Sparky didn't have many friends wasn't because people didn't like him" is easier for you to understand

Although the meaning ends up more or less the same, I don't agree that this interpretation is technically correct.

Moon7296 · Answer

park sang joonMy opinion has come from my grammar reference published in Korea

Thank you for contributing to this thread.
I was surprised at your comment because your "refercence published in Korea" seems to be the same as mind. It interprets the sentence I asked just as the one you put in English.
I wasn't sure that interpretation and was unfamiliar with a "it wasn't X" structure. That's why I asked here. Now we know that our reference book does not give full insight just as native speakers think, right?

GPY · Answer

moon7296"it wasn't X" structure.

Note the difference:

"It wasn't people that didn't like him" -- (spoken with emphasis on "people") implies that something else didn't like him.

"It wasn't that people didn't like him" -- (normally spoken with emphasis on "like") means that "people didn't like him" is false, normally implying that people were at worst neutral on the like-dislike spectrum, and often that people's estimation of him was subject to some other caveat.

CalifJim · Answer

moon7296unfamiliar with a "it wasn't X" structure

Here are more for you to look at.

It wasn't that parents enjoyed more flexibility in their work schedules, either.
It wasn't that he was so happy to be leaving behind his profession of 35 years.
It wasn't that I cared who became president. I just loved the sense of community.
It wasn't that he was trying to ape Reagan as the news magazines have been saying.
It wasn't that I went to Penn State because it was the only opportunity I had.
It wasn't that it was stifling hot or anything. They simply didn't want to go.
It wasn't that the other scientists thought Merzenich was wrong or right or crazy.
It wasn't that I wasn't good, but for whatever reason I wasn't good enough for him.
It wasn't that John Kerry was a bad guy. It was just that he was profoundly boring.
It wasn't that it was bad, but it wasn't as high quality as I had remembered.

To take just one example, It wasn't that it was stifling hot ... implies that the reason for something (in this case, that they didn't want to go) was not the fact that it was stifling hot.

The reason that they didn't want to go was not that it was stifling hot — even though it was stifling hot.
__________________

I don't see a significant difference between the sentences below, so I have no quarrel with the second paraphrase of Sparky didn't have many friends. It wasn't that people didn't like him.

The reason that Sparky didn't have many friends was not that people didn't like him.
That Sparky didn't have many friends wasn't because people didn't like him.

This is a little different from the 'stifling hot' example because you can't add "even though people didn't like him" here — and you can't add that people did like him, either, but that's explained in the text of the example itself.

CJ

Park sang joon · Answer

Hello Moon
Do you live in Korea now? If so, I'm curious when you sleep.
I have inferred you have majored in English literature or English language education through your self-introduction.
If my thought is right, I don't feel qualified to answer your question but I can just say about my thought.
I know the study of English has sevral schools unlike that of Korean and I think we have been taught from some of old schools among them. In addition, those has been transformed by linguists In Janpand and Korea for some reason. Maybe we could tell what we have been thought is obsolete and partially wrong, but all we have been thought is not useless, I think.

To my mind, it is an important thing that we should have ability to select what we think is right.

GPY's rule - "It wasn't that people didn't like him" -- (normally spoken with emphasis on "like") means that "people didn't like him" is false, normally implying that people were at worst neutral on the like-dislike spectrum, and often that people's estimation of him was subject to some other caveat.

Did you know this usage?; I just supposed the possibility that the emphasis usage "it is~that" could be applied to your example, but I couldn't assure myself of that; we could also think this usage stress "not plus verb."
The GPY's rule is better applied to most of the examples Mr.Jim have given.

But I think our interpretation is more suitable for your example because in the emphasis the usage "it is~that", I have not seen 'it' indicate the former sentence in any grammar book until now.
What do you think about that? I'm very curious of this.

Fivejedjon · Answer

CalifJimIt wasn't that it was stifling hot or anything. They simply didn't want to go. [...]. The reason that they didn't want to go was not that it was stifling hot — even though it was stifling hot.________________

It sounds to me as though it wasn't stifling hot.

structure/ pronoun it

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