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Moon7296 Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

it in this sentence

1. It is something of a truism that to put off making a decision is itself a decision.
2. That to put off making a decision is itself a decision is something of a truism.

Q) Does "it" in #1 refer to "that to put off making a decision is itself a decision" just like in #2?
  

Top answer

It's probably better to recognise "It is ... ", and similar phrasings, as set patterns for sentence construction, rather than worrying too much about assigning a literal meaning to "it". In a sense, "it" does refer to "that to put off making a decision is itself a decision", but in another sense it doesn't since direct substitution creates a nonsense.

— GPY

  • It's probably better to recognise "It is ...
  • ", and similar phrasings, as set patterns for sentence construction, rather than worrying too much about assigning a literal meaning to "it".
  • In a sense, "it" does refer to "that to put off making a decision is itself a decision", but in another sense it doesn't since direct substitution creates a nonsense.
  • Really, "it" is just part of a device for moving "something of a truism" to the start of the sentence, both to balance the emphasis and to avoid the awkwardness of #2.
  • This kind of "it" is sometimes called "anticipatory it" since it anticipates a later phrase (in this case "that to put off making a decision is itself a decision").
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1 Answers
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It's probably better to recognise "It is ... that ...", and similar phrasings, as set patterns for sentence construction, rather than worrying too much about assigning a literal meaning to "it". In a sense, "it" does refer to "that to put off making a decision is itself a decision", but in another sense it doesn't since direct substitution creates a nonsense. Really, "it" is just part of a device
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