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Imantaghavi Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Preparatory "it"

Hi,

In the following sentence there is a mistake with the use of "preparatory it" and "it" after the verb "bear" should be omitted:

"I cannot bear it to see people being cruel to animals"

Since in the following one the use of "it" is correct:
"She loves it when you sing to her"

Why is it so? Is that because we have to use complement after "it" in the first example?
And is complement always an adjective?

Thank you in advance,

Iman
  

Top answer

I don't think the first one is an error; it is merely informal. Both can also be phrased these ways: I cannot bear ( it) to see people being cruel to animals. She loves ( it) when you sing to her.

— Mister Micawber

  • I don't think the first one is an error; it is merely informal.
  • Both can also be phrased these ways: I cannot bear ( it) to see people being cruel to animals.
  • She loves ( it) when you sing to her.
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11 Answers
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I don't think the first one is an error; it is merely informal. Both can also be phrased these ways:

I cannot bear (it) to see people being cruel to animals.
She loves (it) when you sing to her.
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Hi Mistre Micawbre,

My book(Longman CAE Gold) presented the following for "it" as a preparatory object:

subject + verb + it + complement + infinitive/clause


According to this the first sentence doesn't have complement. What's your idea?

Iman
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Other than that they all sound normal to me? Well, this:

I (S) cannot bear (V) (it) to see people being cruel to animals (infinitive clause complement).
She (S) loves (V) (it) when you sing to her (finite clause complement).
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According to what you just said I can say that the use of "it" following sentence is also correct although it sounds weird to me.

I knew it that they didn't really want to come with me.

Thanks in advance,

Iman
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That sounds weird to me, too.
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Here are some of the examples presented by the book for using "it" as preparatory object and surprisingly enough the complement is an adjective in all of them:

1- I find it hard to believe how much technology has advanced.
2- They made it clear that they didn't like him.
3- His headache made it difficult for him to work.
4- They thought it strange that
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Quirk offers these non-adjectival examples. Do they match your supposition?

I made it my objective to settle the matter.
I owe it to you that the jury acquitted me.
Something put it into his head that she was the murderer.
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imantaghaviHi,In the following sentence there is a mistake with the use of "preparatory it" and "it" after the verb "bear" should be omitted:"I cannot bear it to see people being cruel to animals"Since in the following one the use of "it" is correct:"She loves it when you sing to her"Why is it so? Is that because we have to use complement after "it" in the first example?A
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Hi Mistre Micawbre,

So what you mean by the examples is that the complement is changeable and can be adj,noun,adv etc? Is that what you mean?

Regards,

Iman
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Yes, that's what it seems to me from the various examples I found.
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