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Hello, Dear Members and Gurus!!I feel that the sentence, "A. l find it offputting that he's so self-satisfied." is correct, but "B. l find offputting that he's so self-satisfied." seems a little awkward.And "C. l find that he's so self-satisfied offputting." sounds grammatical but a little awkward. I wonder how these will sound to a native's ear...

Deadrat · Accepted Answer

This native's ears likes A.

Philip · Answer

deadrat This native's ears likes A.

I have to agree.

RandomGuy · Answer

pructusl find it offputting that he's so self-satisfied.

Correct.

pructusl find offputting that he's so self-satisfied.

Wrong.

pructusl find that he's so self-satisfied offputting.

Awkward at best.

Let’s look at a simpler example with a noun phrase and no content clause:

..................object..........objective predicative complement
1. I find....his behavior ................off-putting.

This is called a complex-transitive construction. When a clause contains a predicative complement but no object, it is complex intransitive:

...........................subjective PC
2. His behavior is....off-putting.

In the transitive clause the PC relates to the object, in the intransitive to the subject, hence ‘objective PC’ and ‘subjective PC’. The element to which the PC relates is called its predicand. In [1] the predicand is object; in [2] it is subject.

Normally if the predicand is a content clause it is extraposed (put at the end of the clause) and the subject or object position is filled by dummy it:

3. It’s off-putting that he’s so self-satisfied.
4. I find it off-putting that he’s so self-satisfied.

These are much more likely than:

5. That he’s so self-satisfied is off-putting.
6. I find that he’s so self-satisfied off-putting.

However, while [6] is of questionable acceptability, [5] is used occasionally and is definitely not ungrammatical.

Pructus · Answer

I see... I see...
Thanks a lot, Asparagus!!
And also thanks to deadrat and Philip!!

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