lunarpower wrote:

magnus opus wrote: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


Ron, in the above example could you explain the function of 'it' in the correct choice E. This is an o.g question.

When 'it' has no referent, how and when is the usage of such a pronoun permitted.

a few other examples from the o.g


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

these are examples of the ONLY pronoun that is allowed to go without standing for a noun.

THE ONLY PRONOUNS ON THE GMAT THAT DON'T HAVE TO STAND FOR NOUNS:
It + description + that + complete sentence (independent clause)
It + description + to + verb (infinitive)

these "it"s DO NOT have to stand for nouns.
ALL other gmat pronouns must stand for nouns.

FIRST TYPE

It + is obvious + that Medellín will beat Nacional in Wednesday's game.
(for any paisas who might be reading this --vamox medallo!)

It + has been said + that the moon is made of green cheese.

Johnny found it + counterintuitive + that the GMAT tests exceptions to rules just as often as it tests the rules themselves.

SECOND TYPE

It + is often difficult + to distinguish between a past-tense verb and a past participle.

The rain made it + quite challenging + to drive on the freeway.

if you look at the examples you've given above, you will find that all of them conform exactly to the above templates.

also, if you have og12, check out #57.
there are four instances of "it".
the two instances of "it" that occur at the beginning of choices (present in choices (c) and (d)) fit the above templates, and so are ok even though they don't stand for nouns.
the other two instances of "it" (in choices (a) and (c)) do not fit the above templates, and so must stand for nouns; since there are no suitable nouns in those choices, those pronouns are incorrect.

lunarpower wrote:

It + is obvious + that Medellín will beat Nacional in Wednesday's game.
(for any paisas who might be reading this --vamox medallo!)