It was last summer when ...

[yamyam]

Hello, teachers!

I've found the following:

1. It was last summer when I met her for the first time.

Is this sentence pattern common?
Or, should it be rewritten as follows?

2. It was last summer that I met her for the first time.


Thank you very much in advance for your help on this!!


yam

 

[Mori]

We can use when as a relative adverb to emphasize a place:

It was last summer when I met her for the first time.

In formal English in particular, a phrase with preposition + which can often be used instead of when:

It was last summer in which I met her for the first time.

You can also use that:

It was last summer that I met her for the first time.

Or simply:

It was last summer I met her for the first time.

 

[GoesStation]

It was last summer in which I met her for the first time.

No, that is not correct.

It was last summer I met her for the first time.

That one is not natural.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I would omit 'It was'.
Last summer I met her for the first time.

 

[Mori]

I'm confused! There seems to be an apparent contradiction between what you, as a native speaker, say and what I learned in grammar sources. For instance:

• Understanding and Using English Grammar (See 13-6)
• Oxford Guide to English Grammar (See 279)

Any thoughts?

 

[Mori]

I would omit 'It was'.
Last summer I met her for the first time.

Definitely a good suggestion, but such sentences seem to be common:

So it was last week when the State Department published the inside story of the Big Four's failure to settle the Berlin dispute by negotiation.

Life magazine

It was last summer when 39-year-old Dale Davis was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease.

COCA