One type allows you to focus on the person or thing you are talking about, as in It was Jason who told them.
The second type allows you to focus on an action, as in What they did was break a window and get in that way or All I could do was cry.
The third type allows you to focus on the circumstances of an action, for example the time or the place, as in It was one o’clock when they left, or It was in Paris that they met for the first time.
Split sentences are dealt with in the section beginning at paragraph 9.25.
impersonal it
9.5 When you want to say something about a fact, an action, or a particular state, you can use a structure beginning with it, for example It’s strange that he didn’t call, It’s easy to laugh, and It’s no fun being stupid.
You also use an it structure to talk about the weather or the time, for example It’s raining, It’s a nice day, and It’s two o’clock.
It structures are dealt with in the section beginning at paragraph 9.31.
there with be
9.6 There is used followed by be and a noun phrase to introduce the idea of the existence or presence of something. This makes the noun phrase, which is new information, the focus of the clause. For more information, see paragraphs 9.46 to 9.55.
There is someone in the bushes.
adverbials
9.7 There are also two types of adverbial that you can use to focus on a clause as a whole, or on different elements of the clause. These include sentence adverbials (see the section beginning at paragraph 9.56) and focusing adverbials (see paragraphs 9.79 to 9.90).
He never writes, of course.
Frankly, I don’t really care what they think.
As a child she was particularly close to her elder sister.
Focusing on the thing affected: the passive
9.8 Many actions involve two people or things – one that performs the action and one that is affected by the action. These actions are typically referred to using transitive verbs, that is, verbs that have an object. Transitive verbs are explained fully in Chapter 3.
In English the person or thing you want to talk about is usually put first as the subject of the clause. So, when you want to talk about someone or something that is the performer of an action, you make them the subject of the verb and you use an active form of the verb. The other person or thing is made the object of the verb.
However, you may want to focus on the person or thing affected by an action, which would be the object of an active form of the verb. In that case, you make that person or thing the subject of a passive form of the verb.
For example, you could report the same event by using an active form of a verb, as in The dog has eaten our dinner or by using a passive form of a verb, as in Our dinner has been eaten by the dog, depending on whether you wanted to focus on the dog or your dinner.
formation of the passive
9.9 Passive forms consist of an appropriate form of be followed by the -ed participle of the verb. For example, the passive form of the present simple of eat is the present simple of be followed by eaten: It is eaten.
She escaped uninjured but her boyfriend was shot in the chest.
He was being treated for a stomach ulcer.
He thinks such events could have been avoided.
For details of passive forms of verbs, see the Reference Section.
not mentioning the person or thing that performed the action
9.10 When you use the passive form of a verb, you do not have to mention the person or thing responsible for the action (the performer).
You may want to do this for one of these reasons:
He’s almost certainly been delayed.
The fence between the two properties had been removed.
I was told that it would be perfectly quiet.
Such items should be carefully packed in boxes.
She found that she wasn’t being paid the same salary as him.
…the number of children who have been vaccinated against measles.
His pictures of dogs were drawn with great humour.
The government responded quickly, and new measures were passed which strengthened their powers.
Both of these books can be obtained from the public library.
It is very strange and has never been clearly explained.
The original has been destroyed.
I’ve been told you wished to see me.
9.11 In accounts of processes and scientific experiments, the passive is used without the performer being mentioned because the focus is on what happens and not on who or what makes it happen.
The principle of bottling is very simple. Food is put in jars, the jars and their contents are heated to a temperature which is maintained long enough to ensure that all bacteria, moulds and viruses are destroyed.
9.12 The passive form of reporting verbs is often used in an impersonal it structure, when it is clear whose words or thoughts you are giving or when you are giving the words or thoughts of people in general. See 9.45 in the section on impersonal it structures.
It was agreed that he would come and see us again the next day.
It was rumoured that he had been sentenced to life imprisonment, but had escaped.
9.13 When people in general are the performers of the action, an active form of the verb is sometimes used instead, with the generic pronouns you or they as the subject. One is used as the subject in this kind of clause in formal speech and writing.