[mesmark]

I wrote out some listening scripts for Japanese junior high school teachers and used this phrase at the end to say it was the red one they would go with.
"The red one it is."

Then they came back with a couple questions:

What's the subject in this sentence?
I told them the subject is 'it'

Why do you bring 'the red one' to the front and what's the rule for invertion?
???

I told them we bring it to the front for emphasis, but as far as invertion, I'm lost because you can't say 'It is the red one.'

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[susan53]

If I've understood correctly, what you mean is that you're not trying to say :

Example A

A : Which is the one you like?
B : It's the red one.

but :

Example B

A : Which one shall we buy?
B : The red one is cheapest
A : OK, the red one it is!

In example A the speaker is simply identifying the object. There's no reason to front the topic, because there's no emphasis. Unless B happened to be Yoda from Star Wars (like that he speaks), the emphasis that the fronting in The red one it is would gives would sound silly.

But in example B the gloss could be - OK, The red one is the one we will buy. Here - The red one = S. It is here "substitutes" (ie means) is the one we will buy.

However, we could just have easily had said The one we will buy (=S) is (=V) the red one (=C). As you said, the other word order was probably chosen for emphasis : the speaker sees "the red one" as the topic of the sentence and fronts it. In this context emphasis is relevant. This parallels with sentences like Joe, his name is or An utter idiot I felt (examples from the Communicative Grammar Leech and Svartvik section 427).

It seems to me that the reason the non-emphatic order (It's the red one) can't be used, as opposed to the equally non-emphatic The one we will buy is the red one is because of the potential confusion with the purely identifying meaning in example A. As ever, it seems to be the difference in meaning of "it is" in the two examples which causes the difference, rather than any purely grammatical rule.

But groping in the dark a bit I am. Other ideas other people have perhaps -??

[DaveESL]

Unsurprisingly, I agree with Sue. I would call "the red one" the subject. There is no way that I could explain it nearly as well as she, though!

[mesmark]

Thanks for the replies.

Quote susan53

This parallels with sentences like Joe, his name is or An utter idiot I felt (examples from the Communicative Grammar Leech and Svartvik section 427).

So, in these two examples are the subjects of the sentence Joe and utter idiot?

[susan53]

No. The subjects are his name and I respectively. Joe and an idiot remain the complement as is clear in the normal word order :
His name is Joe (SVC)and I felt an utter idiot.(SVC)
but in these examples the complement is fronted for emphasis :
Joe his name is. (C S V)
An utter idiot I felt. (CSV)

[mesmark]

That's what I thought but why then do you both think 'the red one' is the subject in our example.

The one we will buy is the red one.
*The red one, the one we will buy is.
The red one, it is.

Is this a separate example in your opinion, since 'it is the red one.' has a seemlingly different meaning of naming or labeling the thing?

[susan53]

Well I did say groping in the dark I was. I got my examples mixed up - I knew what I was trying to say but reversed the examples (I was on a very heavy dose of antihistamines at the time ...) What I was trying to say is :

You're right - It's the complement:

A. The one we will buy (S) is (V) the red one (C)

So replacing the one we will buy with the pronoun it gives us the emphatic version:

The red one (fronted complement) it (S = the one we will buy) is (V)

The second version :

The red one (S) is (V) the one we will buy.(C)

is irrelevant here.

But I managed to say exactly the opposite. The same day I also managed to make three appointments at exactly the same time, realise, cancel two of them and rearrange both at the same time as yet other appointments.

Befuddled I was.