Re: It is . . . . .

[Rose Wilcox <RWILC -at- FAST -dot- DOT -dot- STATE -dot- AZ -dot- US>]

More explication on the pronoun-antecedent battle of picayune types
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From: TECHWR-L
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: It is . . . . .
Date: Wednesday, August 09, 1995 9:11AM

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Date:         Wed, 9 Aug 1995 09:11:16 MDT
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           <TECHWR-L -at- VM1 -dot- ucc -dot- okstate -dot- edu>
From: Bill Burns <WBURNS -at- VAX -dot- MICRON -dot- COM>
Subject:      Re: It is . . . . .
Comments: To: TECHWR-L -at- VM1 -dot- ucc -dot- okstate -dot- edu
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L <TECHWR-L -at- VM1 -dot- ucc -dot- okstate -dot- edu>
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Sherrill writes:

>Never thought twice about the occasional use of It is . . . until I left
>the group to work for another group at the same installation.  On my first
>day, I asked my boss (not a "writer" but pretty darn good with language)
>what his pet peeves were.  Guess what--It is . . . topped the list!  He
>says that you cannot always tell what the antecendent for "it" is supposed
>to be!  Same goes for "This is . . ." and other similar constructions.

In any instance, the antecedent for a pronoun (in this case "it" must be
clear.  When the antecedent isn't clear (such as when the preceding sentence
refers to two singular entities), then the pronoun shouldn't be used.  In
many
other instances, writers use "it" as a subject in passive constructions (for
example, "It is imperative that...").  In these cases, "it" simply occupies
space and provides no information (same with "there are ..." in many
instances).  Using "this is" at the beginning of sentence also creates the
same problems as using "it"--the antecedent is often unidentifiable or
nonexistent.

Sometimes "it is" is perfectly clear.  In these cases, no harm is done.  I
prefer to use "this" as a demonstrative, but I occasionally use "this" as a
pronoun when I'm too lazy to reword what I've written.

Bill Burns                            *
Assm. Technical Writer/Editor         * LIBERTY, n. One of imagination's
most
Micron Technology, Inc.               * precious possessions.
Boise, ID                             *
WBURNS -at- VAX -dot- MICRON -dot- COM                 *                     Ambrose Bierce