Can I start a sentence with “it”?

For the beginners, English has always been a confusing language. But it is not that much confusing at all, if you hold knowledge of grammar. Raise your hands, who always start sentences with it a number of times. There would be many of you thinking over that should start a sentence with it or not. If not, then why? Here, we are going to emphasize on the above-mentioned subject.

It is a bad habit and can even make your readers a bit lethargic. No doubt, it makes your sentence clumsy as well as leads to believe that the writer is not good in writing. The three most essential reasons are being shared indicating to stop using IT at the starting of a sentence.

1.      Buried Subject – When you start sentences with IT, the main subject of the sentence is buried that readers may identify later. The term “Main/real subject” is not indicating towards Noun or Pronoun, but the real idea, person, place or thing. To put in simple words, adding “IT” at the beginning of the sentence may hide the importance of a particular idea on which you wish to emphasize.

Let’s understand this Example –

• It is a bit tough task to find a good deal on a property.
• To find a good deal on a property is a bit tough task.
• Finding a good deal on a property is a bit tough task.
  

The above-mentioned sentence does not let the readers understand the main purpose unless he/she go through the whole sentence. The last two sentences have been started with the rhetorical subject, which is more direct and easy to understand.

2.      Redundancy – Why you should make your writing boring by stuffing unnecessary words like IT? Avoiding IT in the start means you are clear with your thought as well as hold good command over grammar. Instead of choosing grammatical subjects, it sounds good to choose rhetorical subjects. Avoiding use of “IT” helps to pay attention over using the most specific subject to make sentences very clear. By placing the rhetorical subject, redundancy can be eradicated easily. Not only in the starting, but make sure if possible to remove “IT” used in the mid of the sentences.

3.      Context Confusion– Sometimes, writers use the word IT when they do not wish to disclose the identity of the subject or readers already knows about the subject. In case, if your readers do not know about the subject, you need to explain the context of your statement.

For Example –

You visit your father’s office first time and do not anything about the new age machinery installed there. Suddenly, you come back to your dad and say “It is difficult for me.” Though, the grammatical subject has been used here but still the context is not cleared. It is hard for your dad to understand what is difficult for you. Here, you need to clear the context for that you used the term IT. It means you have to say like this “Making Coffee is difficult for me.” To put in simple words, avoid using IT if your readers do not know about the context or if it has not been cleared earlier.

So, keep learning the rules of Grammar to sophisticate your writing skill. Always have in mind “Practices Makes Perfect.”

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