Another example of growing tendency to use resumptive pronouns

I just heard a reporter say, “…. going back to a time we can’t even fathom it.”

The ‘it’ in my English is not only unnecessary but is confusing because “a time” is what we cannot fathom. Now in Spanish, that is usually required, e.g. “… remontandose a un tiempo que no lo podemos entender.”

(I hope I am not misusing ‘remontar’ since it is a new word for me)

I have noticed this a lot and have associated it with children’s speech but it seems to be creeping up into adult usage. Maybe it’s been around all the time and I just didn’t notice (it).

Let me know your observations.

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