Explaining preparatory ‘it’ - introduction: E6-07G

 

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Proficiency grammar: explaining sentence construction using ‘It’ as a preparatory subject or object

1. ‘It’ as preparatory subject

To prepare the vegetables before starting to cook is a good idea.

Although this is technically a correct sentence in English, with the words underlined forming a noun clause, subject of ‘is’, we do not much like this construction. The problem is that we must read too far along the sentence in order to find out what it is going to be about. So we prefer to use a preparatory subject – ‘it’ – as an advance indicator of the subject. This gives us:

It is a good idea….

The sentence’s shape is now clear, we add our subject to the end, and we get:

It is a good idea to prepare the vegetables before starting to cook.

It is this construction which we call ‘preparatory it’.

Parking anywhere near the town centre on a summer Saturday is impossible.

Here is another example of a noun clause subject, this time beginning with a gerund: parking. Again, we do the same thing, but parking changes to ‘to park’

It is impossible to park anywhere near the town centre on a summer Saturday.

 

2. ‘It’ as preparatory object

‘It’ can be used not only as a subject, but also as a preparatory object:

That there will be storms tonight is thought likely by the weather men.

The weather men think that there will be storms tonight is likely.

Constructions of these two types are not acceptable in English, so in order to say the same thing, we use preparatory ‘it’

The weather men think it likely that there will be storms tonight.

Such clauses also often begin with ‘to’:

 Most language students find it necessary to have a good dictionary.

 

3. Preparatory ‘it’ in passive constructions

This is used all the time in, for example, newspaper language. Instead of

Record numbers of prisoners are  being held in British gaols has been reported.

We use the construction:

 It has been reported that record numbers……..            

Another example:                                               

That taxes will have to rise at the next budget is widely believed. 

Is replaced by:

It is widely believed that taxes will have to rise at the next budget.

This is also a feature of academic writing, with expressions such as, for example:

 

To state that many / most authors agree on something -

 

It is generally considered that….

 

It is usually held that…..

 

To introduce the next logical step in a line of argument -

 

It can therefore be seen that….

 

It follows that…(= active construction)

 

To emphasise something –

 

It must be stressed that…

 

To introduce a line of argument –

 

It can be argued that…

 

and so on…