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Tkacka15 Posted 8 years ago
Vocabulary

Let it be known

Internal government emails leaked to the Observer revealed on Sunday that the Democratic Unionist party leader, Arlene Foster, had privately let it be known that she was readying herself for a no-deal scenario following a “hostile and difficult” meeting with Barnier last week.

(The Guardian.)

Is "it" a dummy (empty) one in had privately let it be known or is it a pronoun referring to the following it clause that she was readying herself for a no-deal scenario following a “hostile and difficult” meeting with Barnier last week?

  

Top answer

The phrase "let it be known" is idiomatic - the "it" in it has no particular meaning. This phrase is generally used to mean that a person released some item of news - for example, to a known blabbermouth or to a news-hungry journalist - fully intending that it be spread around to many more people, and the more the better.

— Anonymous

  • The phrase "let it be known" is idiomatic - the "it" in it has no particular meaning.
  • This phrase is generally used to mean that a person released some item of news - for example, to a known blabbermouth or to a news-hungry journalist - fully intending that it be spread around to many more people, and the more the better.
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3 Answers
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The phrase "let it be known" is idiomatic - the "it" in it has no particular meaning. This phrase is generally used to mean that a person released some item of news - for example, to a known blabbermouth or to a news-hungry journalist - fully intending that it be spread around to many more people, and the more the better.

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I'd say it stands for the phrase, because you could put the phrase where it is and the meaning would be the same: Democratic Unionist party leader, Arlene Foster, had privately let that she was readying herself for a no-deal scenario following a “hostile and difficult” meeting with Barnier last week be known. It's hard to read, and that's why we use the form with "it".

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tkacka15Is "it" a dummy (empty) one in had privately let it be known or is it a pronoun referring to the following it clause that she was readying herself for a no-deal scenario following a “hostile and difficult” meeting with Barnier last week?

It's "anticipatory it", but some grammarians lump it under the category of "dummy it".

Here's a link

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