2

What is the purpose of the pronoun 'it' here? Is it merely a dummy pronoun, a semantically empty subject? Or is it a cataphoric pronoun, serving as a placeholder for the extraposed infinitival clause?

It was their turn to be surprised.

If the former, then why? That is, why is it possible to use a dummy pronoun in this sentence? I thought that the uses of 'it' as a dummy pronoun were limited to clauses expressing time ("It's two o'clock"), date ("It's Thursday"), or weather ("It's raining"). Assuming that 'it' is indeed a dummy pronoun here (which I think likely), then is its use idiomatic?

Some enlightenment would be appreciated.

Eric
  • 706
  • 1
    Is it coincidence that this comes immediately after this question? – Andy Bonner Mar 03 '22 at 22:02
  • 1
    @AndyBonner Say IT isn't so! – DjinTonic Mar 03 '22 at 22:09
  • 2
    The short answer is that linguists can't really agree, not even about weather sentence, let alone more complex or unusual constructions. Explanations in linguistics tend to be descriptive (this happens), not with the same truth status as truths in mathematics (it is logically required that; answers to why questions). – Stuart F Mar 03 '22 at 22:49
  • @StuartF weather sentence? However I do agree with you. – Xanne Mar 04 '22 at 00:14
  • It's just a dummy it — not an anticipatory one. Clearly To be surprised was their turn doesn't work. – Tinfoil Hat Mar 04 '22 at 00:34
  • 1
    Yes. There's an idiomatic verb phrase (be) X's turn involved here. It hasta have an indefinite subject referring to instances of a turn-taking activity. The subject doesn't hafta be it, but it does hafta be indefinite: When Harry comes to bat, that will be Sally's turn in left field – John Lawler Mar 04 '22 at 16:32
  • Are there any linguistics articles that deal with the various uses of the dummy it in English? Most of what I have found regarding this topic is not very useful (for me), to say the least; often, only the use of the dummy it in clauses expressing weather is discussed. – Eric Mar 04 '22 at 20:30

2 Answers2

1

The sentence structure is similar to describing ownership, as in:

It is Mary's book.

In this case, It is a cataphoric pronoun whose antecedent is "Mary's book". So if you think that the antecedent is "their turn" then it's cataphoric.

But to me it feels more like a dummy pronoun. The sentence seems to be referring to the state of the game, similarly to the way weather and time statements refer to the state of the world in your other example sentences. We don't think of the "turn" as a thing to be figuratively owned by a player -- it's a feature of the game that a player is assigned to.

Barmar
  • 20,741
  • 1
  • 38
  • 59
  • I agree. *It's your turn* is like *It's raining* and *It's too late for me to prevent you from winning the game, not like Oh, look! It's a baby deer!* (references a "state", rather than a "thing"). – FumbleFingers Mar 04 '22 at 12:37
0

'It' is a dummy (or an empty) subject. 'It' can be used as an 'empty' subject. It does not refer to anything.

It is not anticipatory because 'To be surprised was their turn.' doesn't make sense. 'An anticipatory it' can also be called a 'dummy it'.

Mohammad Farukh Ahmad
  • 497