Anticipatory It
It seemed that she would keep his word In this clause, the subject is called extraposed subject. It = "dummy subject" or "formal subject". It occupies the place typically occupied by a grammatical subject but that-clause contains the content of the subject. It is obvious she is right is indeed a transformation of That she is right is obvious (rarely used) In pattern with introductory it, there is always a finite or non-finite clause occurring at the end of the pattern. Non-finite pattern (ing and to-inf) Subject (It) + Verb + Complement (Noun Group) + -ing clause It is no fun doing things alone It is no use complaining Subject (It) + Verb + Object (NG) + Object (NG) + to infinitive clause It cost me a fortune to rebuild the house It will do me good to have a rest ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anticipatory It + Verb Phrase ...