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What is the grammatically correct sentence?

  1. That's nice of you to say so!
  2. It's nice of you to say so!

I've come across 1 many times, but I feel it seems not to be grammatically correct, strictly speaking as "that" cannot be used as a dummy pronoun, so it should be written as 2 as "it" can work as a dummy pronoun referring to "to say so". If you think of 1 as natural, could you tell me why?

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    Your first version isn't really idiomatic for native speakers. I think this is because that and so are effectively performing the same role, in that they're both references to what you said. Note that in this context, you say so isn't an adverbial reference to how you said it - it's still just another way of referencing was was said. This duplication / clash problem simply doesn't arise with you second version (where it is really more of a "dummy" reference, as in It's raining).
    – FumbleFingers
    May 12, 2019 at 18:43
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    I doubt you've actually come across the first sentence many times. Mainly because it would normally not be phrased that way. With it, the so would typically be dropped, making it simply that's nice of you to say. With that change, both versions are common.
    – Jason Bassford
    May 12, 2019 at 18:51
  • @JasonBassford Sorry, I just misunderstood that I might've seen 1 with "so" many times. As you said, I've come across such sentences like 1 without "so" many times.
    – GKK
    May 13, 2019 at 8:01

3 Answers 3

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To better analyze both forms, you can replace "so" with "that," as the two of them function the same grammatically in this context. (For the purpose of organization, we will place our analysis in curly braces.) Now, the sentences become:

  1. That's nice of you to say that!
  2. It's nice of you to say that!

{Clearly, only the second sentence works in the context of proper English grammar, the first one being redundant. In order for the first sentence to make sense, you would have to get rid of "that."}

Now, in order to obtain the answer to your question, change "that" back to "so," and because both "so" and "that" are grammatically equivalent, our analysis will be the same, except all occurrences of "that" replaced with "so."

  1. That's nice of you to say so!
  2. It's nice of you to say so!

Finally, this answers your question:

{Clearly, only the second sentence works in the context of proper English grammar, the first one being redundant. In order for the first sentence to make sense, you would have to get rid of "so."}

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  1. That's nice of you to say so!
  2. It's nice of you to say so!

Sentence 2 is correct because 'it' here is a subject and means 'to say so'. So 2 means 'For you to say so is nice'.

In sentence 1, 'That' is a pronoun and indicates some other noun, not 'to say so'. You can say 'That's nice.' instead of 'What you said is nice.'

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In short, option 2 is your answer.

The following is an explanation of preparatory "it".

Imagine that, A has help B solve a problem. B appreciates that.

A: I am willing to help you, call me anytime.

B: It's nice of you to say so!

replace "so" with "that"

B: It's nice of you to say that!

"that" here refers to what A just said, which is a standard use

used to refer to something that has been mentioned or was involved earlier

"that" = "something was involved earlier" = what A just said = "I am willing to help you, call me anytime." = the content A said

"it" refers to the action/behavior of saying that

"It's nice of you to say that" = "saying that" is nice of you.

In conclusion,

"that" = the content A said

"it" = "saying that"

with option 1, "that" refers to two different meanings at the same time, which should be avoided.

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