(1) It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch.

I read the preceding sentence as having an infinitival phrase acting as an
extraposed subject with an expletive.  After reinserting the extraposed
subject, it would read:

(2)  To love what death can touch is a fearful thing.

However, I can also see "a fearful thing" as the extraposed subject and "to
love what death can touch" a complement, making the reconstructed sentence:

(3)  A fearful thing is to love what death can touch.

Which reading do you prefer?

Diane

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