it as a dummy subject
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it as a dummy subject
Please have a look at this from the general discussion forum.
My account is inactive on that forum because I tried to change my e-mail.
I want to reply but can't.
What do you think?
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=65421
Thanks.
My account is inactive on that forum because I tried to change my e-mail.
I want to reply but can't.
What do you think?
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=65421
Thanks.
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I would say that "it" as a dummy subject before "important to" somehow doesn't sound like everyday English, but wouldn't be classed as wrong. If you started out saying "It is important to John that everything be in the right place" it would sound like the beginning of a narrative or something. I always regard that dummy "it" as referring somehow to the general situation, and we are much more likely to wish to talk in an abstract way about what is generally "important for" people to do, rather than what they consider to be important.
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The only criticism I can see is aesthetic. "It's important to him to....." isn't very elegant with those two to's but the "it" is indubitably a dummy subject and there's nothing actually wrong with "It's important to him to...." at all. In fact there's a useful potential subtlety:
It's important for him to be rich (We need him to be rich. It's mportant to us but not to him)
It's important to him to be rich. (He feels the need to be rich)
It's important for him to be rich (We need him to be rich. It's mportant to us but not to him)
It's important to him to be rich. (He feels the need to be rich)