10.38 emphasizing time

You can form many useful time expressions using a structure with 'it' followed by 'be' and a noun group referring to time. The use of this structure puts emphasis on the time of the event.

You can say when something happened using 'when'.

• It was 11 o'clock at night when 16 armed men came to my house.
• It was nearly midnight when Kunta finally slept.

You can say how long ago something happened using 'since'.

• It's two weeks now since I wrote to you.
• It was forty years since the war.

You can say how long the interval was between one event and another using 'before'.

• It was ninety days before Rodin's search was over.
• It was four minutes before half-time.

You can say how soon something will happen using 'to'.

• It's two days to D-day.