Query - it's/that's

[Andrew Jameson]

The difference is not in the meaning but in the usage.
Taken on their own, the two phrases comprise one
wrong utterance - "It's right" is not what a native would say
in this context - and one right utterance - "that's right".

The sentences these utterances come FROM, on the other
hand, if we look at each of them as a whole, are the other way round:

It is Sasha that saw Masha. is CORRECT usage
That's Sasha who saw Masha. is not correct English usage.

Sentences beginning with "that" instead of "this" are quite
common in the English that Russians speak, and we Russianists
accept them as the transference of the Russian "eto". But they
always sound strange, because for us "that" refers in such
sentences to a third party outside the current conversation.

We had a friend who used to phone us and announce herself
as "that's Lena!" which we always found very disconcerting.
Eventually she learnt that she should say "THIS is Lena".

Andrew Jameson MA MIL
Chair, Russian Committee, ALL
Reviews Editor, Rusistika
1 Brook Street, Lancaster LA1 1SL, UK
In UK: 01524 32371
Outside UK: (+44) 1524 32371
----- Original Message -----
From: Edil Legno <peitlova at TISCALINET.IT>
To: <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 3:39 PM
Subject: Query - it's/that's


I know,it has nothing to do with "original" message - query for eto,
Now I am rather interested (as not a native english speaker) to know what's the
difference between:

It's right.
That's right.


Thank You.
Katarina Peitlova,Ph.D

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