Difference between "She is hot" and "Hot she is"?

Question

Is there any difference on these two usages "She is hot" and "Hot she is" ??

The first one is what a human would say, the second is how Yoda would say it. — Joe Dark, Dec 07 '14 at 10:40
If he could bring himself to say something like that at all, which is pretty doubtful. — Erik Kowal, Dec 07 '14 at 11:17
This question appears to be off-topic because it is about basic grammar. It may be better suited to ELL. — , Dec 07 '14 at 11:26
English is a SVO language, as embodied in your first sentence. Your second sentence is OSV, which is very unusual. — Dan Bron, Dec 07 '14 at 12:06
@ErikKowal - You know he was thinking it about Princess Leia. — Hot Licks, Dec 07 '14 at 15:21
@DanBron “. . . if mod. E. has lost the trick of putting a word desired to emphasize (for pictorial, emotional or logical reasons) into prominent first place, without addition of a lot of little ‘empty’ words (as the Chinese say), so much the worse for it.” — tchrist, Dec 07 '14 at 15:25
@Mitch Because they are xūzì not shízì. In Mandarin, particles are known as yǔzhù (语助), zhùzì (助字), zhùcí (助词/助辭), or yǔcí (语词). They are part of the Classical Chinese category of *“empty words”* or xūzì (虛字), along with prepositions, conjunctions, and according to some grammarians pronouns and adverbs; these contrast with *“solid words”* or shízì (实字), which include verbs, nouns, adjectives, numerals, and measure words. — tchrist, Dec 07 '14 at 16:59
No one's asked so I will. Where did you see the second example? Could you quote what came before and after it? Thanks :) — Mari-Lou A, Dec 07 '14 at 17:40

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 07 '14 at 10:40

2

Hot she is is a very unusual construction. Exactly what the speaker meant to convey by using such odd syntax would depend completely on the context: there is no general answer.

answered Dec 07 '14 at 10:40

Colin Fine

77,173

But that form is widely used, isn't it? In circumstances where there is something further to add; e.g. Capable she is, but I would not trust her to run the shop; or perhaps more usually, Genius he may be, but I wouldn't employ him. It usually works with such negating subsequent phrases, I think. – WS2 Dec 07 '14 at 10:45
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Widely used it may be, but only in sentence showing a contrasting idea--as you stated. The only time it stands alone would be if the speaker were doing a Yoda impression. – miltonaut Dec 07 '14 at 10:51
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And nearly always with a modal such as may (as in WS2's second example, and miltonaut's comment. – Colin Fine Dec 07 '14 at 10:53
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I can think of just one situation where "Hot she is" might be uttered. Consider the following sexually objectifying dialogue: A: "Wow! Look at that awesome-looking broad over there! She's hot!" B: "Yeah! Hot she is!" Here, the inversion of the normal word order in "Hot she is!" is being used as a way to emphatically restate the first interlocutor's assertion without repeating it verbatim. – Erik Kowal Dec 07 '14 at 11:14
Who's hot? Where is she? *There she is*. – Dan Bron Dec 07 '14 at 12:13
Right you are, @Eric Kowal. You should make your remark about emphatic restatement part of an answer. – TimR Dec 07 '14 at 12:14
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@tchrist I wanna know why we can say "There she is" but not "Hot she is" without invoking terms like hyperbation. What's so special about locatives? – Dan Bron Dec 07 '14 at 16:22
@Miltonaut It doesn't have to be followed by a contrast - can be something that complements or extends the opening phrase ("Dark they were and golden-eyed.") or pretty much any kind of sentence if the author feels that an explicitly poetic style is appropriate. – itsbruce Dec 08 '14 at 01:12

TimR · Answer 2 · 2014-12-07T17:16:55.723

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Both WS2 and Eric Kowal are right. Inversion of the usual word order can occur when the speaker wishes to place an emphasis on the element that is made to appear first. That can happen when the speaker agrees emphatically with, or wishes to question, the previous statement of an interlocutor.

His new Ferrari is hot!
-- Hot it is! Wish I had one.

His new boat is sleek!
--Sleek it may be, but you know what they say: the happiest days of your life are the day you buy your dream boat...and the day you sell it.

The emphatic agreement does not need to echo a word from the previous statement:

Right you are, Eric Kowal!

edited Dec 07 '14 at 17:16

answered Dec 07 '14 at 13:45

TimR

21,116

Please do not reference other users, answers, or comments in your own answers. All those are likely in the fullness of time to become dead references. It is also too chatty for a Q&A format. – tchrist Dec 07 '14 at 16:54
@tchrist what? I've often seen users refer to comments and other people's posts. Nobody said anything before. There is the risk that comments get deleted, and so a reference to a comment can become meaningless, if that is the reason then I suppose it's a good one. – Mari-Lou A Dec 07 '14 at 16:58
@Mari-LouA Comments, answers, and even users can be deleted, and users there are who change their screen names more often than change the season’s latest hot fashion colors. Again, it also discourages discussion and dependencies, things better avoided in an answer, which should stand on its own merits. – tchrist Dec 07 '14 at 17:02
@tchrist I added my comment before you edited your first one, what you say is true, and now makes greater sense to me but the OP's answer, nevertheless, stands on its own legs. – Mari-Lou A Dec 07 '14 at 17:07
I have removed the "at-sign" so the website algorithms won't get confused, should these users abandon ship; I trust that flesh-and-blood readers will have the intelligence to understand from context that I'm referring to a comment. As for "too chatty", go #*$#(%&A#%. – TimR Dec 07 '14 at 17:18
The second (concessive) use is an unmarked part of my idiolect; the first (emphatic) is marked to the degree that I am unlikely ever to use it. To my mind, these are very different constructions. – Colin Fine Dec 08 '14 at 00:23
Just wanted to say that you're not the first nor will you be the last to nominate user(s) and refer to their comments in your answers...http://english.stackexchange.com/a/212585/44619 – Mari-Lou A Dec 08 '14 at 21:29

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

I can think of one situation where "Hot she is" might be uttered without it sounding unnatural.

Consider the following sexually objectifying dialogue:

A: "Wow! Look at that awesome-looking broad over there! She's hot!"

B: "Yeah! Hot she is!"

Here, the inversion of the normal word order in "Hot she is!" is being used to emphatically restate the first interlocutor's assertion without repeating it verbatim.

Difference between "She is hot" and "Hot she is"?

3 Answers3