How to parse. ...

110 "IT" AS ANTECEDENT. [Par. I60, 16I.

Antecedent. For example, in answer to (1) above,
we do not like to say, though it would be logically
correct -
(4) "It that I saw was John."
Instead of this, we prefer to take some of the
emphasis from " it " by shifting the place of " that."
In this way, "it" becomes almost as unemphatic
as the preparatory " it" in Par. 151:(5) "It was John that I saw."
6o0 By a similar transposition, instead of saying, "It
that says so is you," we ought to say, strictly
speaking -
(6) " It is you that says so."
But this sounds harsh. We feel that what we
want to express is " You say so." Hence " You that
says so" seems ungrammatical. Consequently, by
a mistake of confusion (confusing (6) with "you
say so "), we have fallen into the habit of writing
the sentence thus:(7) " It is you that say so."
I6I But, in parsing (7), the only right method is
1st, to state that "say " is, by confusion, used for
" says;" 2nd, that the sentence is transposed from
"it that says so is you;" 3rd, that "it" is the
Antecedent of " that," and Subject of "is."
The same parsing applies to -
(8) " It was you that I laughed at," i.e., "it that I
laughed at was you."