Expletive It (Language I - 2021)

SUBJECT
 Subject is a function.
 The subject of a clause is a nominal expression of which some predication is
made. A nominal expression can be a phrase or a clause occupying a noun
position. A noun phrase (NP) can be made up of only one word, which must be a
noun, or more than one word.
 Categories that can function as Subject:
- A NP: John / My brother studies English.
- A pronoun: She / Someone is singing.
- A gerundial clause: Meeting you here has been splendid. / Working in
these conditions a pleasure.
- An infinitival clause: To act like that is foolish. / To do physical exercise
is tiring.
- A noun clause: That he told us the truth is obvious. / What frightened me
was his attitude.
 The subject agrees in person and number with the finite verb of the Predicate of
the clause and has to be in the nominative case. The problem is that English is a
poorly inflected language so, in many cases, neither agreement nor case are very
useful to identify the subject.
 The subject is normally sentence initial and precedes the verb in statements.
 Sentences whose real subject is a noun clause tend to have it moved rightwards
to final/postverbal position in the clause (extraposed). As the subject position
can rarely be empty in English, when this is the case, the
real/notional/semantic subject is anticipated by a grammatical subject devoid
of meaning. This kind of subject is called Anticipatory Subject and is normally
realised by the dummy/expletive/pleonastic pronoun it, which is semantically
empty/non-referential/meaningless. Expletive it can anticipate:
- Infinitival clauses: It is nice to see you. / It would be a mistake to ignore
his advice.
- Gerundial clauses: It is no use crying over spilt milk. / It´s no good
hoping for their help.
- Noun clauses: It is strange that she should have said that. / It´s doubtful
whether he will be able to come.
- EXPLETIVE IT CAN NEVER ANTICIPATE A NOUN PHRASE
(in Standard English)!
 Another expletive pronoun that can anticipate the real/notional/semantic subject
is there, which can anticipate:
- A NP: There is a book on the table. / There is no doubt about it. / There
comes an end to all things.
- A gerundial clause: There´s no use denying the fact that this government
is very inefficient. / There´s no getting over it.
 DIRECT OBJECT
 Direct objects, like subjects, are typically nominal expressions:
- A NP: He has lit a cigarette. / Don´t hit me.
- A noun clause: Describe what you saw. / He said (that) he would come
and see us.
- A gerundial clause: I like reading poetry. / Stop wasting my time.
- An infinitival clause: I want to go away. / Did you remember to feed the
cat?
 The DO can very often be identified by asking Who/What do they (verb)?
 Though not always morphologically evident in English, the DO always has
accusative case.
 Although it can be omitted, the DO is structurally obligatory as it is an
argument selected by the predicator: He was eating (a sandwich). / She was
singing (a ballad). / He was smoking (his pipe).
 Typically, the DO immediately follows the verb it complements, unless an IO is
placed between.
 The DO can also be anticipated by expletive it when it is:
- A noun clause: I find it necessary that you should bring your own tools. /
Don´t you think it odd that she should live by herself?
- An infinitival clause: I consider it wrong to cheat in examinations. /
Everyone thought it most foolish for you to climb the mountain alone.
- A gerundial clause: We think it most dangerous your climbing the
mountain alone. / I find it very risky your venturing out there.