To find her so distressed

[LeoBritish]

To find her so distressed took him by surprise.

I rewrite the sentence below by using "it". Is it correct?

It is so distressed to find her that she took him by surprise.

 

[grassy]

No, it was her who was distressed. The other person was surprised by the fact she was distressed.

 

[LeoBritish]

No, it was her who was distressed. The other person was surprised by the fact she was distressed.

and I say so: t is so distressed to find her and noun clause

 

[grassy]

In your sentence "distressed" modifies "it", which doesn't make sense.

 

[Florentia52]

Please tell us where you found your original sentence, and in what context it was used/

 

[LeoBritish]

Please tell us where you found your original sentence, and in what context it was used/

Academic English Grammar

 

[grassy]

Maybe these paraphrases will help you understand the sentence better:

The fact that she was so distressed took him by surprise.
Finding her so disressed took him by surprise.

 

[LeoBritish]

Maybe these paraphrases will help you understand the sentence better:

The fact that she was so distressed took him by surprise.
Finding her so disressed took him by surprise.

It is her to be so distressed for taking him by surprise.

Now, is this correct?

 

[Cet]

It is her to be so distressed for taking him by surprise.

Now, is this correct?

Hi LeoBritish,

If you want to start the sentence with it, then the equivalent of your original sentence would be:

It took him by surprise to find her so distressed.

"It" is a placeholder here for the delayed subject of the sentence, "to find her so distressed." It's the same kind of sentence as the following: It is fun to visit Disneyworld.