*Important concept*- pronoun without reference is ok.

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Although various eighteenth and nineteenth-century American poets had professed an interest in Native American poetry and had pretended to imitate Native American forms in their own works, until almost 1900,scholars and critics did not begin seriously to study traditional Native American poetry in native languages.

A)until almost 1900,scholars and critics did not begin seriously to study
B)until almost 1900 scholars and critics had not begun seriously studying
C)not until almost 1900 were scholars and critics to begin seriously to study
D)it was not almost until 1900 when scholars and critics began to seriously study
E)it was not until almost 1900 that scholars and critics seriously began studying

This is an o.g question and E is the correct answer. I however do not understand what is the 'it' referring to.
I understand we make this usage in colloquial language, but can someone please explain its grammatical significance and how and when "it" can be used.

a few other examples from the o.g.

-Long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Josephine Baker made Paris her home

-It can hardly be said that educators are at fault for not anticipating the impact of microcomputer technology
Last edited by magnus opus on Thu Oct 28, 2010 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by EducationAisle » Thu Oct 28, 2010 10:49 am
"it" is not referring to anything here, but just used as a 'placeholder'. In that sense, 'it' is a special pronoun in that it may or may not refer to an antecedent.

Some examples where 'it' is not referring to anything:

It is far from truth that the team did not give its best in the match.

It has been bright and sunny for the entire month
.

Whether or not 'it' should have a valid antecedent depends upon the context of the sentence and you need to be sensitive to the meaning of the sentence to interpret whether or not 'it' should have an antecedent.
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by magnus opus » Thu Oct 28, 2010 2:34 pm
thanks for replying.

I am looking for something more concrete. A rule, which can help easily identify if such usage of "it" is correct.

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Oct 29, 2010 5:32 am
In some SCs, it will be an EXPLETIVE: a pronoun serving to delay the subject.
In these cases, the referent for it will typically be a that-clause, a whether-clause, or an infinitive phrase that appears later.

E: It was not until almost 1900 that scholars and critics seriously began studying traditional Native American poetry in native languages.
Here, it is standing in for the that-clause in blue.
Conveyed meaning:
That scholars and critics seriously began studying traditional Native American poetry in native languages was not until almost 1900.

For other examples, check my second post here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/sentence-str ... tml#740186
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Fri Jul 15, 2016 5:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by magnus opus » Sat Oct 30, 2010 3:14 am
got it thanks... :)

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by RBBmba@2014 » Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:34 am
Hi Mitch - I think the followings are two ERRORS option D.

1. As IT is used as expletive in this SC, IT must be followed by THAT-clause or WHETHER-clause or an infinitive. But option D uses WHEN-clause after expletive IT. So,this construction is INCORRECT.

2. The PHRASE almost until 1900 is AWKWARD.

Am I correct ?

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Nov 20, 2015 3:17 pm
RBBmba@2014 wrote:Hi Mitch - I think the followings are two ERRORS option D.

1. As IT is used as expletive in this SC, IT must be followed by THAT-clause or WHETHER-clause or an infinitive. But option D uses WHEN-clause after expletive IT. So,this construction is INCORRECT.

2. The PHRASE almost until 1900 is AWKWARD.

Am I correct ?
These lines of reasoning are sound.
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