THE ART OF SPEAKING AMERICAN ENGLISH (7 page)

B. I’m going to France
in
a week (from now. – optional).

Examples (C) and (D) essentially express the same idea
.

Examples (E) and (F) express essentially the same idea.

that
And
it

Innumerable grammar textbooks cover this topic, and yet, many of my students over the years have asked me to explain the differences between
it
and
that
. Largely putting grammar aside, let’s take the easiest approach using example sentences.

I
. Starting with the differences that are easiest to understand and remember,
that
(A) connects two sentences together, and
that
(B) can replace the word
so (=extremely/considerable)
in colloquial English, despite being “so called” grammatically incorrect.

A.
We saw a lioness nursing a baby deer
that
everyone on the African safari couldn’t take their eyes off
.

B.
I’m not
that/
so tired
.

II
.
that
refers to and places special emphasis on an event, in the past and future tenses. Substituting
it
for
that
slightly diminishes the emphasis.

That
was only her third time snow boarding, but she took to (=quickly became accustomed to or skillful at) the slopes like a pro
.

III.
that
denotes an event or idea that occurred awhile back (A), as opposed to
it
, which refers to something that occurred
not long ago
(B), although not strictly followed as a rule.

A.
That
was ten months ago
.

B.
It
was
(just –
optional) last month
.

IV
.
that
refers to an object or item at a distance from the speaker, while
it
refers to a nearby object or item.

“
I don’t care for
it
,”
the woman said of the party dress draped over her husband’s arm, adding,
“but I sure love
that
(one -
optional).”

V
. The
four pointing words
(these,
that
, this and those) are regularly used as stand-alone pronouns in conversation and in casual writing, which makes
that
in some cases interchangeable with
it
. (
A
) and (
B
) are what you hear in the
real world
, so to speak, but never see in grammar textbooks. (
C
) follows the established rules of grammar, but is almost never said.

A
.
My father is financially supporting me. I couldn’t get by without
it
.

B
.
My father is financially supporting me. I couldn’t get by without
that
.

C
.
My father is financially supporting me. I couldn’t get by without
that
money
.

VI.
it
and
that
may be equally common in certain cases.

VII
.
it
and
that
may be used alternately at the beginning of a tag
question
that ends with
it
. Example (A) is regarded as grammatically correct, and example (B) is regarded at grammatically incorrect, although (A) and (B) are both acceptable in conversational English. (C) is rarely said.

A.
It’s
a
marvelous painting, isn’t
it
?

B.
That’s
a marvelous painting, isn’t
it
?

C. That’s a marvelous painting, isn’t
that
?

VIII
.
that
, as an idiom, can be used to place emphasis on a noun (person, place, thing) to express approval, disapproval, respect, love, delight, surprise, annoyance, anger, disgust and many other sentiments.

A useful example of this is the name of an old American television show
That
Girl
, referring to it’s fashionable, spunky star Marlo Thomas.

Actor Pierce Bronson, in expressing his disapproval of President Bush and the Iraq war, simply said
That
man!

IX.
that
, used as an emphatic declaration
(
that
!
), expresses disappointment, disbelief, dislike, ridicule, or all of the foregoing at one time, the object of which is usually inanimate.

Carl
:
I think you would really look terrific in this dress,” Carl said to his wife
.

Carl’s wife:
That
!
I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing such a thing
.

X
.
that
!
is sometimes directed at a particular person, and is both derogatory and cynical.

Mary:
Is the new boy in the class cute or what!

Lora:
That! Girl, you better get some glasses
.

so
And
that

I
.
that
is often substituted for
so
when confirming that one essentially agrees with an opinion or statement while disagreeing about the degree to which the opinion is true or correct.
that
is
heavily accented
to convey the desired nuance.

A Few Examples: