4

I saw a video where this British person says "Nice pub this" and I'm wondering if that's actually a shorter way of saying "[A] nice pub this [is]."

Is this construction common in everyday British English? Does this form exist in American English at all?

Improve this question
4
  • 5
    It's an expression I've been familiar with for many years. 'Nice pub, this' / 'Nice shirt, that' / 'Nice day, today'. Conversational deletion is in play, perhaps from 'It's a nice pub, this is' (hence the usual comma), though 'This is a nice pub' is the more usual expanded form. I'd say it's more common in the north of England, and perhaps becoming generally less commonly heard. I can't find data on Google Ngrams.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Nov 1, 2021 at 13:03
  • 1
    Without any evidence to back me up, I'd say the construction is more common in British English but not out of the ordinary in American English.
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Nov 1, 2021 at 13:28
  • 3
    Right dislocation from This is a nice pub, followed by conversational deletion of it's.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Nov 1, 2021 at 15:19
  • "A fine romance with no kisses / A fine romance, my friend, this is" (Jerome Kern with lyrics by Dorothy Fields)
    – DjinTonic
    Commented Nov 1, 2021 at 18:33

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

Odd question, this. I suppose to non-native Englishspeakers this may seem a bit "Yodish" (https://grammarpartyblog.com/2011/05/04/speaking-yodish/)...

But native speakers do tend to express themselves in similarly flexible ways.

Improve this answer
0

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .