Confusions about "it"

Question

Hi! everyone.Could you help allay my confusions over these?The book is nice to look at.The book is nice to be looked at.The book is nice to look at it.Which of the above sentences are correct?I see a book and say;A: It is nice to look at.Does "it" in A refer to book?B: It is nice to look at it.Can B be rephrased into; looking at it is nice.Does "it" in B not have any literal meaning? Thanks!

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

"The book is nice to look at." is correct.

"The book is nice to be looked at." is theoretically grammatical, but awkward-sounding.

"The book is nice to look at it." is ungrammatical.

"It is nice to look at." is correct. "It" means "the book."

"It is nice to look at it." is correct, but not in the sense above. This sentence means that the act of looking at the is book is nice (pleasant), not that the appearance of the book is nice. The second "it" in this sentence means "the book." The first "it" in this sentence does not have a literal meaning.

"Looking at it is nice." is correct. This has the same meaning as "It is nice to look at it." This means that the act of looking at the book is nice (pleasant), not that the appearance of the book is nice. "It" in this sentence means "the book."

CalifJim · Answer

silak12The book is nice to look at. The book is nice to be looked at. The book is nice to look at it. Which of the above sentences are correct?

Only the first is idiomatic.

silak12A: It is nice to look at. Does "it" in A refer to book?

Yes.

silak12B: It is nice to look at it. Can B be rephrased into Looking at it is nice.

Yes. You might say that the two are the same sentence, but rearranged. In fact, there are three versions of this sentence worth mentioning.

Basic sentence:  [ Looking at it ] is nice.
Transformation 1: [ To look at it ] is nice.  (This is not as idiomatic as the basic sentence, but possible.)
Transformation 2: [ It ] is nice {to look at it}.  (Dummy it replaces the subject in Transformation 1; then that subject is moved to the end.)

silak12Does "it" in B not have any literal meaning?

Correct. it is not a referring pronoun in B, as in your sentences such as It is nice to look at, where it refers to the book. Instead, it is a dummy pronoun which is simply a place-holder for the subject (to look at it) which has been moved to the end. The it within the subject clause is the it that refers to the book.

CJ

Confusions about "it"

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