was or it was

Question

1. the policeman whose job it was to arrest Phillipe

2. the policeman whose job was to arrest Phillipe

I am currently teaching defining relative clauses. The first sentence is what appears in the book. why do we use ït" what's its purpose in the sentence? I don't think it makes any difference without it!

Vsuresh · Accepted Answer

I doubt if you posted completed sentences.

However the first sentence with it is incorrect.

The second is fine as this:

There comes a policeman whose job is to arrest Phillipe.

CalifJim · Answer

Those two relative clauses are derived from two different independent clauses which are essentially synonymous. Here's how it works.

First of all, note that this is an equative sentence (a sentence that says one thing IS another thing), so it can be stated in either order, for example:

Anderson is the president of the company = The president of the company is Anderson. (same thought; different order)

Compare: To arrest Phillipe was his job = His job was to arrest Phillipe.
To avoid an infinitive as subject, the first of these becomes It was his job to arrest Phillipe. (dummy "it")

So the first of your examples comes from It was his job to arrest Phillipe. The second comes from His job was to arrest Phillipe.

CJ

was or it was

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