using it as a second subject

Question

Is the following sentence correct? I think grammatically we should get rid of "it".

He was in a quandary about which selection from his extensive repertoire it would be feasible to perform for the children.

(Source: Barron's 1100 words)

Answer 1

The sentence is correct, and would still be correct without the "it".

I'll break it down in stages to show why it's correct with "it", and how to understand it.

Let's say, he was in a quandary about something, and that something was the indirect question: "which selection from his extensive repertoire it would be feasible to perform for the children".

The underlying question is:

Which selection from his extensive repertoire would it be feasible to perform for the children?

The deeper form of the sentence looks like this:

It would be feasible to perform [which selection from his extensive repertoire] for the children.

The part [in brackets] is the complete "wh-question" that was moved from the middle of the sentence to the front to form a question.

Here, the "it" is a "dummy it" which means nothing, and forms a subject only because English requires subjects for every clause. It's like "It's raining", where "it" means nothing at all.

So that's what the "it" means and why it's natural in your original example sentence. Since the "it" means nothing and "which selection..." makes a valid subject for "would be feasible to perform for the children", it works just fine without "it" as well.

Answer 2

You want to use a relative pronoun here to connect "He was in a quandary about which selection from his extensive repertoire" and "X would be feasible to perform for the children."

I believe The "X would be feasible to perform for the children" is an adjective clause I describing "selection", and relative pronouns allow us to connect adjective clauses to main clauses, essentially "borrowing" the subject of the main clause in a compact form.

He was in a quandary about which selection from his extensive repertoire that would be feasible to perform for the children.

The relative pronoun that can often be omitted, so this is valid as well.

He was in a quandary about which selection from his extensive repertoire would be feasible to perform for the children.

Answer 3

The original sentence is correct and natural as it stands.

I agree with gotube that in the sentence:

He was in a quandary about which selection from his extensive repertoire it would be feasible to perform for the children.

the inner question "which selection from his extensive repertoire it would be feasible to perform for the children" is what he was undecided ("in a quandary") about.

The word "it" here acts as a pronoun, referring back to "selection". That is, he is unsure which selection he can perform. (Consider the related declarative sentences, "He would be able to perform this selection." or "He would be able to perform the selection from Swan Lake.")

"It" in "it would be feasible to perform" serves as a subject for "would",

Now let's consider the original with "it" left out.

He was in a quandary about which selection from his extensive repertoire would be feasible to perform for the children.

This is technically valid. But when the reader gets to "would be feasible " there is, it seems to me, a sudden jump. It takes a moment dor the listener to to connect "would be feasible" with "which selection" properly, and that slows the reader down, and can introduce confusion. the subject of "would" is now "which selection", but that is separated from the verb by the modifying phrase "from his extensive repertoire". This makes the listener think back, and is in my view more awkward. Thus I prefer the version with the "it".