oxford_guide_to_english_grammar

PAGE 53
47 Word order and information
The empty subjects there and it • 50
We can also use there + be.
There was a swimming-pool at the end of the garden.
We use it referring forward to a phrase or clause.
It's nice to see you.
It was a good thing we didn't have to pay.
Emphasis • 51
We can emphasize a word by giving it extra stress.
I hate supermarkets. They're awful places.
I hate supermarkets (not little shops).
We can use the emphatic form of a verb.
I did go to the supermarket. I went this morning.
There are also patterns with it and what.
It's supermarkets I hate.
What I hate is supermarkets.
47 Word order and information
1 Information in a statement
Imagine each of these statements as the start of a conversation.
(in a cafe)
This coffee tastes awful.
(at a chemist's) I need something for a headache.
(at a railway station) The next train is at half past nine.
In each of these statements, the first phrase is the topic, what it is about. The topic
is usually the subject. The speaker is giving information about this coffee, I and the
next train. The topic is known or expected in the situation: coffee is what we are
drinking, I am in the shop, the next train is what we are going to catch.
The new information about the topic usually comes at or near the end of the
sentence.
This coffee tastes awful.
I need something for a headache.
The next train is at half past nine.
The point of interest, the important part of the message, is awful, a headache and
half past nine. It is also the part of the sentence where the voice rises or falls. For
details about intonation, • 54(2).
Each of the statements starts with something known, old information and ends
with something new. The listener knows that the speaker is drinking coffee, but
he/she doesn't know the speaker's opinion of the coffee: that it tastes awful (not
nice).