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Park sang joon Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

The Intransitive verb "be"

You may, for example, be assigned to read a textbook, and because previous texts have been dull and because perhaps the first chapter of this one is dull, you might infer that all the rest of the book will likewise be dull. Of course, the rest of a book is often even worse than its beginning. Yet it could be that the rest of the book would prove exciting were it read with an open mind.

I think it indicates "that" clause, meaning the following.
?That the rest of the book would prove exciting could be.
And I'd like to know if my thought is right.
Thank you in advance for your help.
  

Top answer

That the rest of the book would prove exciting could be. At first I thought this might be logically justifable, but now I'm thinking that it is a dummy "it". In any case, the resulting sentence is not natural English.

— GPY

  • That the rest of the book would prove exciting could be.
  • At first I thought this might be logically justifable, but now I'm thinking that it is a dummy "it".
  • In any case, the resulting sentence is not natural English.
  • "It could be (that)", "It must be (that)" and similar phases are rather idiomatic.
  • Native speakers would understand them as expressing possible/probable truth or existence without bothering too much about what (if anything) "it" refers to.
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5 Answers
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park sang joonI think it indicates "that" clause, meaning the following.?That the rest of the book would prove exciting could be.
At first I thought this might be logically justifable, but now I'm thinking that it is a dummy "it". In any case, the resulting sentence is not natural English.

"It could be (that)", "It must be (that)" and similar phases a
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I'm so sorry for my belated question, GPY. Emotion: sad
As reviewing this thread I got a curiosity.
I'd like to know if "it" of all senten
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park sang joonI'd like to know if "it" of all sentences is dummy "it" that begin with "it could be that/ It must be that."
No. For example:

I wonder what's inside this package? It could be that book I ordered.

("it" = the thing inside the package)
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Thank you, GPY, for your so very kind answer. Emotion: yes
I'm sorry; I should have specified the usage of "that."
I meant the noun conj
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park sang joonThank you, GPY, for your so very kind answer. I'm sorry; I should have specified the usage of "that."I meant the noun conjunction "that."
Where "that" is a conjunction, I think the interpretation of "it" is always the same as in your original example. At least, I cannot think of any different cases.
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