PLEONASTIC "it"

Examples of pleonastic "IT"

I make it a rule never to smoke while I'm sleeping.

I found it really difficult when teachers talked down to me. (speak condescendingly to)

I make it a rule never to smoke while I'm sleeping.
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I find it hard to relax. I live in New York. * I find it hard to get along with my mother-in-law. * I find it hard to say no to people * I find it hard to get old and hard to say, 'No.' * I find it hard not to take it personally’ * I find it hard not to laugh whenever someone states that Star Trek is “above” this kind of thing. * Ironically, now that my children are older and gone quite a bit, I find it harder to work when they're not around. Too much free time! 

I never set out to be weird. It was always other people who called me weird.

Ellipsis can be an artful and arresting means of securing economy of expression. We must see to it, however, that the understood words are grammatically compatible.

 
Living alone makes it harder to find someone to blame. * Unfortunately, the Church's position on most contemporary issues makes it hard to take them seriously. * It makes it harder to write if I watch a lot of televisión. * It makes it hard to get over a certain period of your life when you are constantly revisiting it every night.  

1. Idiomatic "it"

The governor couldn’t make it, so the lieutenant governor welcomed the special guests.

 2. Referential with clause antecedent.

He was on the board of an insurance company with financial problems, but he insists he made no secret of it. (where "it" refers to the fact that the person was on the board of an insurance company.)

Everyone agrees that most of the nation’s old bridges need to be repaired or replaced. But there’s disagreement over how to do it.
(where "it", together with "do", refers to the action of repairing or replacing the bridge.)

 3. No antecedent – Pleonastic

But it doesn’t take much to get burned. (where the infinitive clause "to get burned" is extraposed and its original position filled with an expletive "it". 

(The equivalent non-extraposed sentence is: ‘But to get burned doesn’t take much.')

It’s a shame their meeting never took place.
(The equivalent non-extraposed sentence is ‘That their meeting never took place
is a shame.’)

4. Cleft

And most disturbing, it is educators, not students, who are blamed for much of the wrongdoing.
(The equivalent non-cleft version is: ‘And most disturbing, educators, not students, are blamed for much of the wrongdoing.’)

It is partly / partially for this reason that we remain in deadlock (que seguimos en una situacion de bloqueo)