186 I/You Admit and Admittedly
c. it is admitted , that to say of a man that hee ha·h robbed the Church· gener-
ally will not bee actionable (1647 March, Actions for slaunder [EEBO])
d. It is admitted they were at your house (1681 The arraingment, tryal and
condemnation of Stephen Colledge [EEBO])
e. It must be admitted , that in this Case the King must make a Title (1682
Colquitt, Modern reports [EEBO])
f. It must be admitted , Nick, you are a very literal logician (1843 Cooper,
Wyandotte [UofV])
g. It will be admitted by those that argue for the Prerogative of Dispensing,
that tho’ the King, without the Parliament, cannot dissolve nor repeal, no nor
so much as suspend the Law totally (1689 Atkyns, An inquiry [EEBO])
h. vnles it should be admitted , that he distrusted Gods promises (1607 Willet,
An harmonie vpon the fi rst booke of Samuel [EEBO])
As can be seen in Table 6.8 , the structure with that predates the one with that
omitted, as would be expected. The earliest occurrences of parenthetical It be
admitted are exemplifi ed below:
(19) a. Mrs. Momro, it is admitted , made one of the best Goddesses of Reason
(1837 Carlyle, The French revolution [CLMET3.0])
b. This was not the way to thrive in the world, it must be admitted ; (1885
Blind, Tarantella [CLMET3.0])
c. I ( it will be admitted ) must surely know what happiness is (1822 De
Quincey, Confessions of an English opium- eater [CLMET3.0])
6.7 Discussion
The shift of I admit from event verb > speech act verb is already complete by
the earliest appearance of the verb in Middle English. The subsequent shift
from speech act verb > performative verb is parallel and roughly contemporary
Table 6.8 The fi rst occurrences of it BE / (modal) BE admitted (that) Sit be admitted that S 1591
it be admitted Ø S 1648
it is admitted that S 1647
it is admitted Ø S 1681
it must be admitted that S 1682
it must be admitted Ø S 1843
it will be admitted that S 1689
it will be admitted Ø S –
it should be admitted that S 1607
it should be admitted Ø S –Source: adapted from Laurel J. Brinton, “From performative to concessive disjunct:
I/you admit and admittedly ,” in Merja Kytö, John Scahill, and Harumi Tanabe (eds.),
Language change and variation from Old English to Late Modern English. Bern: Peter
Lang, 2010, p. 293; with permission.