It’s a wonder

Sometimes you want to introduce a surprising fact. One way to do that is to say, “It’s a wonder that…”

In today’s lesson, we said: “It’s a wonder that the city even exists.” That’s because the city was hit with a massive hurricane in 2005, which caused levees and flood walls to fail. The whole city was underwater. Half the population left immediately; tens of thousands of people never came back. Many, many thousands lost their homes. People started to ask why a city should exist at such a low elevation, especially in the age of climate change.

So when we said, “It’s a wonder the city even exists,” we mean: “It’s surprising that the city even exists.”

Here’s another example. If you fall of your bike, but you don’t get hurt, you can say: “It’s a wonder I didn’t get hurt.” If a couple repeatedly argues, you can say: “It’s a wonder they’re still together.”