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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Grammar question
Grammar question
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juraflei
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"It �s a long time since I last saw you."
"It �s three years since I last went to the theatre "
in both cases the "it" is acting as the anticipatory of the real subject....the real sentence is "three days is since...." a long times is since..." |
2 Jun 2009
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ssrl10
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That�s what I said: cataphoric reference. There s no need of context to see it. Have a look at Quirk and Greenbaum�s grammar or Halliday�s . It is perfectly explained. |
2 Jun 2009
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lunilu3
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I absolutely agree with juraflei. Considering the tenses, I would definetely use present perfect in this type of structure. There �s a chapter in Quirk about anticipatory it, I tried to find the book to give you the page but unfortunately I lent it to a student. |
2 Jun 2009
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juliamontenegro
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Thanks to you guys at least now I know where to look for it and the name of the topic to look for.
I really didn �t know how to even start looking for that subject!!!
I �d never heard of that in college! Cataphoric reference, SUPER!!!
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3 Jun 2009
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[email protected]
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It is so British, to me..."It is a long time since I last say you." It is being brought out ahead of of to what is refering. Switch around the sentence "Since I last saw you; it is a long time." It means that the pronoun was "switched" to go ahead of the antecedent. Hence it being cataphoric v anaphoric in which the pronoun refers back to the antecedent.
Cataphoric: It �s in there, the little cat.
Anaphoric: The little cat, it �s in there.
If you said that here in the US people would think you were speaking a strange dialect. We say, "It �s been a long time since I last you." Nothing is implied. |
3 Jun 2009
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alien boy
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The context I was really looking for was in regard to the questions in the exercise. For example, did they give alternative answers as a multiple choice. If they did, what were the other options? Why were they incorrect when the statements quoted are correct for spoken British English but certainly aren �t written according to Standard British English prescribed grammar.... so in that regard context is actually very useful!
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6 Jun 2009
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