Is it correct to say: "It is my brother's car". or should I say: "Is my brother's car". and why. As usual, the "it" is for Spanish speakers, a kind of nightmare.
asked Aug 24, 2017 at 20:33
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1 Answer
The first phrase is a sentence. It has the "subject / is / subject complement" pattern:
It / is / my brother's car.
John / is / my brother.
He / is / happy.
Complete English sentences need an explicit subject. If you are asked "What is that?" you can answer "It's my brother's car." or you can answer "My brother's car." but you can't answer "is my brother's car".
The second is not a complete sentence. It could be the start of a question:
Is my brother's car [outside the house?]
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Strictly speaking, "My brother's car" isn't a complete sentence, either. The answer isn't as simple as the response needs to be a complete sentence. The concluding paragraph isn't really relevant to the question.– chepnerCommented Aug 25, 2017 at 0:42
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It is not a complete sentence, however it is a valid response to "what is it?". English allows for a bare noun phrase to be understood as a subject complement (in context).– James KCommented Aug 25, 2017 at 7:14