Preparatory "It" Construction

Question

Hello everyone. I have a couple of questions.

Regarding the following two sentences:

(A) Is it dangerous for children to use social networking services?

(B) Is it dangerous that children use social networking services?

Q1 How do they sound to you? Could you please evaluate each of them?

Q2 Do you think both (A) and (B) mean the same thing?

Q3 If (A) and (B) mean two different things, what is the difference? Could you explain it if you don't mind?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Only A is natural.

Persian Learner · Answer

seagullCould you please evaluate each of them?

The first is a simple sentence.

In the affirmative form, you could say:

For children to use social networking services is dangerous.

The underlined part is an infinitival non-finite clause functioning as the subject of the sentence.

'children' is the subject of the infinitival clause introduced by the complementizer 'for'.

However, it is more common for such infinitival clauses to appear after anticipatory 'it':

It is dangerous for children to use social networking services.

Is it dangerous for children to use social networking services?

The underlined parts function as the real subject of the sentence.

--------------------------------

The second one is a complex sentence.

Again you could say:

That children use social networking services is dangerous.

The underlined part is a noun clause functioning as the subject of the sentence.

Again, it is more common for such that clauses to be anticipated by the dummy 'it':

It is dangerous that children use social networking services.

Is it dangerous that children use social networking services?

The underlined parts are still noun clauses functioning as the real subject of the sentence.

-------------------

seagullQ1 How do they sound to you?

The second sentence seems more formal to me.

Top answer