Grammar-Quizzes › Clauses › Subordinate Clauses › It Subj-Clause Placeholder
SUBJECT THAT + CLAUSE | |
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To state an opinion about an observation or fact, that or what and a content clause is placed in the subject position followed by be (seems, appears, should be, may, be ought to be, etc.) and the opinion—an adjective phrase or a noun phrase. |
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OBSERVATION OR FACT | OPINION |
THAT + CLAUSE | [BE] AdjP / NP |
That Fred is a funny comedian |
is obvious to all. (AdP) |
That they look alike |
is clear to everyone. (AdjP) |
That he can imitate Barack Obama |
surprises² everyone. (NP) |
That the President thinks he is funny |
is a pleasant surprise. (NP) |
That Fred can do such a good impression |
is a wonder. (NP) |
That Fred retired from Saturday Night Live |
is a pity. (NP) |
What he said |
was funny. (Adj) |
What inspires him |
is a mystery. (NP) |
IT…THAT + CLAUSE | |
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It allows for the grouping of opinion content at the beginning of the clause so that the statement of fact can be isolated at the end of the clause where it receives emphasis. (It is a pronoun for the content mentioned later.) |
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OPINION | OBSERVATION OR FACT |
IT [BE] AdjP / NP | THAT + CLAUSE |
It is obvious to all |
that he is a funny comedian. |
It is clear to everyone |
that they look alike. |
It surprises everyone |
that he can imitate Barack Obama. |
It is a pleasant surprise |
that the President thinks he is funny. |
It is a wonder |
that Fred can do such a good impression. |
It is a pity |
that Fred retired from Saturday night Live. |
It was funny |
what he said. |
It is a mystery |
what inspires him. |
¹ Static verbs express states that exist, no action is taken. For this reason, they are mostly nonprogressive. These verbs have relatively little meaning other than relating the subject to the complement, which is usually an adjective or participle modifier. (be, acts, appears, seems, becomes, and so on.) See Static Verbs.
² States of Emotion: amaze, astonish, bewilder, confound, delight, disappoint, impress, please, satisfied, startle, stupefy, overwhelm.
Related pages:
There in Subject Position — Milk is on the table. → There is milk on the table.
It as Subject Placeholder — That he is very funny is obvious. → It is obvious that he is very funny.
"It is" + Adj + Infin — Finding the answers is hard. → It is hard to find the answers.
"It seems" / "It occurs" / "It is likely" — It seems odd to me that he didn't say anything.
"It takes" + Infinitive — To get ready takes ten minutes. → It takes ten minutes to get ready.
"Identifying 'be'" — Rain is there. There is rain; Reciprocal Property (A + B = B + A)
It / This Reference — Gizmo developed a new app. It is amazing. Gizmo managed to develop a new app. This is amazing.
It Clefts (extraposition) — What he said was amazing. It was amazing what he said.
SUBJECT CLAUSE |
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A clause may be placed at the beginning of the clause followed by a verb and its complement (predicate). However, long or complicated items are often put towards the end of a sentence. |
1. CLAUSE + [BE] + ADJECTIVE |
To do the work this way is easy. |
Driving all day was hard. |
That he was lying was clear. |
2. CLAUSE + TAKES X AMOUNT |
Boiling an egg takes three minutes. (gerund) |
To house-train a puppy takes (requires) a lot of newspaper. |
To succeed takes hard work. |
3. CLAUSE + MAKES |
Eating chocolate makes me happy. |
To save energy makes sense. |
Where I turn makes no difference. |
4. CLAUSE + EMOTIONAL STATIC VERB |
That you would say such a thing pleases me. |
That she is still in love amazes us. |
That you are unhappy surprises me. |
That he is regretful disappoints me. |
5. CLAUSE + VERB |
¹That she might change her mind occurred to me. |
¹That she came along by chance happened. |
6. CLAUSE + NOUN |
That he escaped alive is a miracle. |
That world is round is a fact. |
That you couldn't come is a pity. (unfortunate) |
That you couldn't come is a shame. (unfortunate) |
IT AS THE SUBJECT |
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It serves as a placeholder for the subject so that the heavier (wordier) part of the sentence can be moved to the end of the sentence. |
IT [BE] ADJECTIVE INFIN/GER/THAT + CLAUSE |
It is easy to do the work this way [doing the work this way.]. |
It was hard driving all day [to drive all day.] |
It was clear (that) he was lying. |
IT TAKES X INFINITIVE |
It takes three minutes to boil an egg. (gerund→infinitive) |
It takes a lot of newspapers to house-train a puppy. |
It takes hard work to succeed. |
IT MAKES [NOUN] THAT + CLAUSE |
It makes me happy to eat chocolate. |
It makes sense to save energy. |
It makes no difference where I turn. |
IT (STATIVE VERB) THAT + CLAUSE |
It pleases me that you would say such a thing. |
It amazes us that she is still in love. |
It surprises me that you are unhappy. |
It disappoints me that he is regretful. |
IT VERB THAT + CLAUSE |
It occurred to me that she might change her mind.† |
It happened that she came along by chance. |
IT [BE] NOUN THAT + CLAUSE |
It's a miracle (that) he escaped alive. |
It's a fact (that) the world is round. |
It's a pity (that) you couldn't come. |
It's a shame (that) he couldn't come. |
¹ These particular Intransitive Verbs (occur and happen) may be used in this way.
ERROR |
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That you are unhappy here*is surprising me. (Don't use progressive.) is + surprising (progressive verb form) |
It looks he regrets what he did. |
It ashamed that he did not join us for dinner. |
It is happened that they just called me as I was calling them. |
SOLUTION |
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It is surprising to me that you are unhappy here. is + surprising (participial adjective) |
It appears (that) he regrets what he did. |
It is a shame that he did not join us for dinner. |
It happened that they just called me as I was calling them. |
TRADITIONAL & ESL DESCRIPTION |
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"Often an infinitive phrase is used with it as the subject of the sentence. The word it refers to and has the same meaning as the infinitive phrase at the end of the sentence." It is difficult to learn a second language. (Azar 322) That clauses commonly follow adjectives in sentences that begin with it + be. It's amazing that… (Azar 253)
It as 'empty' subject; referring to time or weather: it's ten o'clock. It's sunny. (Swan 428.8) It is impossible for me to… (Swan 291.4) Preparatory subject (Swan 446)
Preparatory object (Swan 447)
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LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION |
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Special uses of it. (Huddleston 17 §2.5)
The extraposition and existential constructions (Huddleston 4 §3.2.2-3)
"Extrapositionplaces the subordinate clause in a position where it is easier to process than when it is in subject position." (1405) The existential construction Bare vs. Extended (Huddleston 16 § 6.2.1) Content clauses in construction with it A clause with a that-clause as a subject is more likely to occur in extraposed position. (Huddleston 11 §4.3)
Extraposed subject. It is important that you lock up carefully.
(Huddleston 14 §7.1) Extraposed object. (Huddleston 11 §4.3.2)
Other verbs in this pattern: accept (as), believe, consider, declare, find, make see (as), etc.
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Word Categories: N – Noun; V – Verb; Aux – Auxiliary; Adj – Adjective; Adv – Adverb; P –Preposition; Det –Determiner.
Phrasal Categories: NP – Noun Phrase; VP – Verb Phrase; AdjP – Adjective Phrase; AdvP – Adverb Phrase; PP – Prepositional Phrase; DP – Determinative Phrase.
Clausal Categories: Cls – clause; F – finite clause; NF – nonfinite clause (Ger – gerund; Inf – infinitive; PPart – past participle).
Word Functions: Subj – subject; Pred – predicate/predicator; Comp – complement: an element or elements required by a word or structure to complete its meaning in the clause (e.g., DO – direct object; IO – indirect object; PP - prep. phrase); Adjunct – adjunct: elements not required by an expression to complete its meaning (Subord – subordinator; Coord – coordinator); Supl – supplement: a clause or phrase added onto a clause that is not closely related to the central thought or structure of the main clause.
Slapstick is a type of comedy with slips, falls, embarrassing situations and throwing pies in each other's faces (as found in Charlie Chaplin films.)