The Anticipatory It in English Grammar

The Anticipatory 'It' in English Grammar In English grammar, anticipatory it involves the placement of the pronoun  it in the usual subject position of a sentence as a stand-in for the postponed subject, which appears after the verb. It is also called an  extraposed subject. Anticipatory it  tends to place the emphasis on the verb or (more commonly) on the noun phrase that follows the verb.   When the subject works better at the end of the sentence,  anticipatory it is often the best way to go, and its commonly heard in everyday speech and found regularly in all types of writing. Shifting Nominal Clauses to the End Gerald C. Nelson and Sidney Greenbaum discuss nominal clauses in An Introduction to English Grammar (2013): It is unusual to have a nominal clause  as the subject of the sentence:  That they canceled the concert is a pity. Instead, the subject is usually moved to the end (the postponed subject), and its position is taken by it (the anticipatory subject):  It  is a pity that the concert was canceled. Here are some more examples: It  is likely  that well be moving to Glasgow. It  doesnt matter to me  who pays for my ticket.Its impossible  to say when they are arriving. It  has not been announced  whether negotiations between the employers and the employees have broken down. The exception is that nominal  -ing  clauses  are natural in the normal subject position: Having a good self-image  keeps me sane.Living in France  was a wonderful experience. Anticipatory It, Dummy It, and Preparatory It Bas Aarts, Sylvia Chalker, and Edmund Weiner sort through more grammatical it details in The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar from  2014. In the first sentence below,  it is an anticipatory subject (the grammatical subject), and in the second  sentence it is an anticipatory object: It  is better  to have loved and lost  than never to have loved at all.I take  it that you agree with me. There  is considerable confusion in the usage of the terms available to describe the various functions of the word it. For some grammarians,  anticipatory it (used with  extraposition) and  preparatory it  are  identical, but they distinguish this usage from  dummy it,  as in  It is raining. Others use all or some of these terms differently or use one of them as an umbrella term. Examples of Anticipatory It It is a shame that the break-in wasnt immediately reported to the police.It is clear that inadequate resources will have an impact on the care of children with disabilities.  Its no concern of mine what happens in this village, so long as my customers dont quarrel when theyre in here. John Rhode (Cecil Street), Murder at Lilac Cottage (1940)It is time you stopped  working. You are the head of the family and it is right that you should be at home to see that everything is in order. Masti Venkatesha  Iyengar, The Curds-Seller in Best Loved Indian Stories, Volume 2 ed. by  Indira Srinivasan and Chetna Bhatt (1999)

Ninguno Usually Used in Singular Form

Ninguno Usually Used in Singular Form Ninguno (as well as the feminine form, ninguna), usually meaning none or not one, is almost always used in the singular form. But ninguno (or the noun it refers to when ninguno is used as an adjective) can often be translated to English as either singular or plural without a change in meaning. Heres  an example: Él tiene lo que ninguna mujer puede resistir. In English, either He has what no woman can resist and He has what no women can resist mean essentially the same thing. But in Spanish, the singular form would almost always be used. Similarly, a sentence such as No he tenido ningà ºn problema could be translated as either I havent had any problem or I havent had any problems, with any difference in meaning being very slight. But ningunos problemas is hardly ever used. Some examples showing how English equivalents can be singular or plural: Ninguna persona debe morir en la crcel. (Nobody should die in jail. No persons should die in jail.) No hay ninguna diferencia entre darle dinero al gobierno y quermarlo. (Theres no difference between giving money to the government and burning it. There are no differences between burning money and giving it to the government.) No tengo ninguna pregunta ms. (I dont have another question. I dont have any more quesitons.) It wouldnt be a grammatical crime to use the plural in Spanish sentence like those two, and indeed you may sometimes hear similar constructions. But as a general rule, the main time ningunos or ningunas is used is when referring to nouns that are grammatically plural although singular in meaning: No veo ningunas tijeras. I dont see any scissors. No necesito ningunas gafas. I dont need any glasses. No tengo ningunas ganas de estudiar. I dont have any desire to study. By the way, theres a reason many of the sentences about use both no and ninguno: Double negatives are common in Spanish. In fact, theyre required in many cases where theyd be wrong in English.