For

Question

It is unusual for there to be so many people in line.In this sentence what function does "for" have? I thought prepositions were always followed by nouns or pronouns.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

hat candle 909In this sentence what function does "for" have?

It's a complementizer. It introduces the subject of an infinitive clause.

Finite clause > Non-finite (infinitive) clause
you want more spinach > for you to want more spinach
George is dressed in a Halloween costume > for George to be dressed in a Halloween costume
there are so many people here > for there to be so many people here

You can put "It is unusual" in front of each of the for ... to ... clauses above.

CJ

BillJ · Answer

It is unusual for there to be so many people in line.

It's not a preposition. "For" belongs to the category (part of speech) 'subordinator', and its function here is that of 'marker'.

As CJ says, infinitival clauses that have a subject are introduced by "for", which appears at the beginning of the clause, right before the subject.

There's a little twist in your example in that it's an 'extraposition' construction – one where the subject of the basic (non-extraposed) equivalent occurs at the end of the clause, and is replaced with the dummy pronoun "it" as subject.

Compare the basic version:

For there to be so many people in line is unusual.

Here, the infinitival clause is subject of the sentence, and just as it is in the extraposed version has "for" as subordinator and "there" as subject.

For

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