[Grammar] It was/is there that I met John.

[jutfrank]

I think the sentence XXX was yesterday sounds strange; it would be better to be something like XXX happened yesterday.

I understand that it sounds strange under analysis, but it's very natural and common to use yesterday like this.

Yesterday was my birthday.
My birthday was yesterday, not today.
Yesterday was not a good day.

Sometimes we treat yesterday as a time within which events happen (in which case it's adverbial) and sometimes we treat it as an event in itself (in which case it's a noun).

 

[YAMATO2201]

Yes, you can say that. In my opinion #3 and #4 are grammatically the same - they are both noun clauses.

Does the following sentence make sense to you?

(5) *Yesterday was the fact that my secretary sent the bill to Mr Harding.

 

[kadioguy]

Does the following sentence make sense to you?

(5) *Yesterday was the fact that my secretary sent the bill to Mr Harding.

I am afraid not. I would say:

The fact that my secretary sent the bill to Mr Harding happened yesterday.

Could you tell me why you ask this question?

 

[YAMATO2201]

Could you tell me why you ask this question?

I wanted to know whether or not you thought that (4) and (5) meant the same thing.

 

[kadioguy]

I wanted to know whether or not you thought that (4) and (5) meant the same thing.

Grammatically they mean the same thing to me, but sound strange, especially (5).

 

[YAMATO2201]

Grammatically they mean the same thing to me, but sound strange, especially (5).

(3) *That my secretary sent the bill to Mr Harding was yesterday.

(4) *The fact that my secretary sent the bill to Mr Harding was yesterday.

(5) *Yesterday was the fact that my secretary sent the bill to Mr Harding.

None of these sentences works for me.