Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

gail_ho · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Taiwan

Dear teachers,

The sentence "Whether he will come or not doesn't matter." can be written as "It doesn't matter whether he will come or not."

What about the sentence " Why he didn't come doesn't matter"?
Is the sentence "It doesn't matter why he didn't come" grammatically correct?

Thank you for your kind help...

Meadowlark · Joined: 19 Feb 2006 Posts: 73

Yes it is correct. Smile

gail_ho · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Taiwan

So..is it true that the false subject "it" can be used to represent any wh- clauses???

KazAV · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 7:16 am Post subject:

Your sentence, "Why he didn't come doesn't matter", is in fact not a question and needs no question mark.

The why here refers to the reason just as "it" also refers to the reason. Another way to say it could be, "the reason he didn't come doesn't matter".

As for other wh- clauses, for instance, "where he got it from is not important" could be written as, "it's not important where he got it from". You can see that the wh- part is still included and thus means that "it" does not refer to the wh- word but to something else. As explained above, it refers to the reason or the explanation behind the action.

Meadowlark · Joined: 19 Feb 2006 Posts: 73

Hello Gail,

I cannot think of an example when it would not be correct. Have you been taught that this is incorrect?

It is always better to avoid beginning this type of sentence with a false subject, but using a false subject with a wh - clause will not make the sentence grammatically incorrect.

Please let me know if you have examples where this type of use is not correct. It is possible that a teacher may learn from a student's questions!

Meadowlark

gail_ho · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Taiwan

First of all, thank you guys for your help!! Razz

I found in a grammar book in my country that it says "it" can be used to represent whether clauses only ,instead of any other wh- clause.
But I thought why "it" cannot represent all the wh-clauses since they are all noun clauses..

Now I've learned it! Thank you, Meadowlark! Very Happy

I have another question!
I know that the sentence" I don't know what I can do" can be rewritten as "I don't know what to do."

What about "Tell me why I should believe him"?
Is "Tell me why to believe him" correct?

advoca · Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 422 Location: Beijing

gail_ho · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Taiwan

I wonder why....

Are there any rules for that?

Can anyone tell me???