Re: It's vs. it is

In a message dated 4/16/01 12:20:07 PM, tb0pwd1@CORN.CSO.NIU.EDU writes:

<< Metrics.  In the sentence, "I don't know what it is," the accent falls on
"is," so "is" cannot be elided.  But in the sentence "It's what I want,"
the accent falls on "what," so "is" can be contracted. >>

That's not exactly correct.  After all, you could put the stress on "I"
indicating it's you who wants it and not someone else and you could still say
"it's" in the beginning.  You could put the stress on anything, in fact, and
you could only contract things in the subject position.

-David

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