It was here that we met.

[Chicken Sandwich]

It was here that we met.

Seems like a perfectly fine setence, right? However, I'm puzzled about what part of speech "that" belongs to. Does anyone know? I'm trying to find more information about this usage, but it's really hard to look for it if you don't know what it's called. I have consulted Longman, but I couldn't find this usage there. My first idea was that you could rewrite this sentence by replacing "that" with "where", 'It was here where we met' but that's probably not right.

Thank you in advance.

 

[5jj]

It was here that we met.

I think it's a relative pronoun. It clearly is in It was John that said those words; That is the house that we used to live in.



Not a parts-of-speech expert.

 

[charliedeut]

Not a parts-of-speech expert.

:shock: You might as well add that to your concise signature! ;-)

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

5jj, thank you.

Would you say that 'It was here that we met' and 'It was here where we met' mean the same thing? Or does the second sentence sound incomplete?

 

[5jj]

Would you say that 'It was here that we met' and 'It was here where we met' mean the same thing? Or does the second sentence sound incomplete?

They mean the same, in my inexpert* opinion. I think the second (with 'where') is probably acceptable, but I don't like it. I am not sure why. It may have something to do with memories from half a century ago of being taught that 'the reason why' and 'the time when' were tautologous. 'Here where' seems to fall into the same set of sins.

* This is not false humility. When it comes to tenses, I know what I am talking about. This is not the case with labelling, particularly with clause analysis, but also with parts of speech at times,
.

 

[emsr2d2]

It seems to me that "It was here where we met" would be more succinctly put as "This is/was where we met". I agree with 5jj's 50-year-old belief that "reason why" and "time when" are tautologous.

 

[5jj]

I agree with 5jj's 50-year-old belief that "reason why" and "time when" are tautologous.

Note that it's the belief that is fifty years old. I am just a little older. :-(