what would be the correct usage and difference in meaning in the sentences below:
- It is these small steps that let us ...
or
- These are the small steps that let us ...
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2They mean the very same thing, but #1 is a little fancier, like you're making a speech.– Yosef BaskinCommented Jan 6, 2021 at 23:31
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Thanks for the help!– Maryna BruyevaCommented Jan 8, 2021 at 0:56
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1The first sentence is extraposed from These small steps let us ... Nothing unusual about it at all (except the missing infinitive verb phrase). The second sentence is just an identification, like This is just mud; that over there is shit.– John LawlerCommented Jan 27, 2023 at 16:59
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2 Answers
"It is these small steps that let us ..."
The sentence above contains a dummy pronoun phrase: "It is" is used to make descriptive statements or other statements.
Another example: "It is true that advanced mathematics is quite difficult."
"These are the small steps that let us ..."
"These are" is deictic. It means you are pointing out the small steps previously given in the text. They can come afterwards too.
Another example:
The children loved to eat bananas, oranges and apples. These are some of the fruit that are easily available in most grocery stores.
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In 'It is these small steps that let us ...', 'these is the deictic (proximal) plural-indicating demonstrative determiner. In 'these are ...', the corresponding demonstrative pronoun. Commented Jul 21 at 16:22
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@EdwinAshworth Something can be both deictic and demonstrative. Deictics are pragmatic aspects, demonstratives are grammar.– LambieCommented Jul 22 at 18:19
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I'm saying you haven't addressed OP's incorrect POS attribution in her first example (determiner/determinative, not pronoun): 'these small steps' cf 'the small steps'. Commented Jul 22 at 22:30
In the first sentence you insist a little on the fact that the reason for being able to do something is the possibility of taking the few small steps in question.
In the second you merely introduce those steps as being the reason. However, the difference is small and some people might not feel that it exists.
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The difference is huge between a dummy pronoun and a deictic pronoun.– LambieCommented Oct 25, 2023 at 14:59
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@Lambie There is not in my answer any underplaying of that difference: I do not discuss the difference from the point of view of the grammatical devices used. The difference I point out remains a reality; you are distributing minus votes arbitrarily.– LPHCommented Oct 25, 2023 at 19:28
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"There is not in my answer any underplaying of that difference." There was no overplaying it either.– LambieCommented Oct 25, 2023 at 19:41