This construction moves a long subject or object to the back and places dummy it at the beginning or in the front of the sentence. It is an important technique supporting the English word-order principle “light information → heavy information.”
Basic Rules
Dummy subject it + be verb + adjective/noun + to-infinitive/that clause:
- It is + adjective + (for person) + to do: “It is … for a person to do〜”
- It is + adjective + that clause: “It is … that〜”
- It is + noun + that clause: “The fact that〜 is … (a noun)”
The choice depends on whether the real subject is a to-infinitive or a that clause. Placing a long subject at the beginning makes the sentence unbalanced, so English uses it to receive the subject and sends it to the end.
Dummy object it: In SVOC, when the object is a to-infinitive or that clause, use it and send the real object to the end:
- think / believe / find / consider / make + it + complement + to do/that clause
- The construction find it [C] to do is frequently used, as in “I find it difficult to learn Chinese. (I feel that learning Chinese is difficult.)”
The logical subject with for 〜 or of 〜: “It is kind of you to help me. (It is kind of you to help me.)” ← Adjectives evaluating a person’s character (kind / nice / careful / foolish / wise) take of. Other adjectives take for.
It is important to study every day. (It is important to study every day.)
It is true that he won the race. (It is true that he won the race.)
I find it hard to wake up early. (I find waking up early difficult.) ← find it + adjective + to do
It was kind of you to invite us. (It was kind of you to invite us.) ← evaluation of character → of
It is difficult for me to swim. (It is difficult for me to swim.) ← general adjective → for
Points to Note
① There are three patterns for the real subject of a dummy-subject construction: to-infinitive (to do), gerund (doing is uncommon, but It is no use doing “doing〜 is useless” is frequently used), and that clause.
② Choosing for or of based on the adjective:
- of: evaluating a person’s nature → kind / nice / careful / foolish / wise / clever / stupid / rude
- for: all other meanings, such as difficulty, necessity, and possibility → difficult / easy / impossible / necessary / important / possible
A way to distinguish them: if the adjective can express a person’s nature, as in “You are kind,” use of; otherwise, use for.
③ Dummy object it is essential when the O part of SVOC becomes long: “× I think difficult to learn Chinese.” “○ I think it difficult to learn Chinese.” It is necessary.
④ The construction make it + complement + to do: “The internet makes it easy to access information. (The internet makes accessing information easy.)” ← frequently tested.
⑤ The emphatic construction It is 〜 that 〜 (= “It is 〜 that …”) is different. It is covered in Course 9.
- Dummy subject it: sends the real subject, to do / that clause, to the end
- Dummy object it: sends a long object in SVOC to the end
- Logical subject: of for character, for for everything else
- find it + C + to do and make it + C + to do are frequently used
- Different from the emphatic construction (It is X that...) (Course 9)
Practice
- Translate “It is difficult for me to learn Japanese” into English using It as the subject.
- Translate “It is kind of you to help me” into English using It is 〜 of you to 〜.
- Translate “She finds it difficult to make getting up early a habit” using find it 〜.