Very awkward questions.

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Hello.The question I have is really absurd but I really have no idea what to do. Why do we use "it is" with plural nouns?"it's not the dogs, it's the people" or "It's not the gaffes, it's the lies"? I can't imagine that we can say: "It's dogs" instead of "These are dogs"  I'm really sorry for that question.Thanks.

Dave_anon · Accepted Answer

Dear Spinyman

In English that idiom is sometimes called the "empty it"

In some languages it is OK just to give a statement with a noun or gerund (and you can do it in English)..

What's the weather like?

- Raining

Who is that woman?

- Sheila

What keeps you awake at night?

- Dogs

In English you may make a longer sentence (if you want to) using the the word "it". It is slightly absurd because the "it" doesn't stand for anything - it is empty. It can look odd because the "it" doesn't stand for any other noun. It is always singular and non-gender - even if the noun following it is not...

What's the weather like?

- It's raining

Who is that woman?

- It's Sheila

What keeps you awake at night?

- It's dogs

Hope that helps, Dave

Spinyman · Answer

Thank you, but I still don't understand why we use It is and plural nouns.  "It's cars" - why is it right?

Anonymous · Answer

spinymanThank you, but I still don't understand why we use It is and plural nouns. "It's cars" - why is it right?

Hi,

I wouldn't rack my brain much about the "It's cars". It's an idiomatic expression where 'it' has rather a grammatical usage with vague or even 'empty' lexical meaning. Such a use of the introductory 'it' is particularly often in cleft sentences: "It's careless drivers that cause most road accidents, not cyclists." I'd compare such a usage to the verb 'have' used in perfect tenses where the 'have', an operator, maintains only the grammatical structure and is deprived its lexical fulness.

Dave_anon · Answer

Hi again

The short answer to your question may be - I don't know why! With idioms, there often is no reason for the grammatical form. For example, in some shops you can try the clothes on . If people attempt to cheat you then they are "trying it on" (idiomatically). So..

- I went into the shop and found a couple of shirts I liked. I went into a changing room and tried them on

- A couple of guys stopped me in the street. One tried to sell me a cheap watch for $500; the other wanted to play poker with a false deck of cards. They were trying it on!

The final "it" there just is idiomatic. Even if there are two conmen trying to work two different tricks on me, it would sound strange if I said..

- They were trying them on!

If you want to know how many hours it's been since midday, I may say..

- It's five o'clock

I think I've seen grammatical explanations for the "empty it" idiom but I've not been persuaded. For example..

- What [is the one thing that] keeps you awake at night?

- It's cars

So it's singular because it refers back to "the one thing". Well maybe, but I'd prefer just to say: it's an idiom - you have to learn it and unfortunately you just have to know in advance how it is going to work

- They are idioms - you just have to take it on the chin!

That's the best I can do

Best regards, Dave

CalifJim · Answer

spinymanIt's not the dogs, it's the people" or "It's not the gaffes, it's the lies"?

These are incomplete clefts with an implied generic final that-clause.

You can highlight almost any element of a sentence by turning it into a cleft sentence. You do this by starting with It is. (Or It is not.) Always It. Then you state the highlighted element. Then you continue with a that-clause.

Example:

The dogs are (not) the problem.

Highlighting the dogs:

It is (not) | the dogs | that are the problem.

______________

Note that there is absolutely no requirement for the original to read: The dogs are (not) the problems. The subject complement need not match the subject in number.

______________

Such sentences as It's not the heat; it's the humidity are therefore cleft sentences that lack the final that-clauses. A missing final that-clause suggests that only some obvious generic that-clause is intended, such as that is the problem, that is the important thing, or that is the issue at hand.

CJ

Spinyman · Answer

Well, Ok. Thank you a lot! I'm just kind of starting to understand these things.

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