meaning - Do "that" and "it" refer to different things in this sentence?



He likes going to the library to study. That always makes her happy.



What if the last sentence were to be changed to



It always makes her happy.



Do these two sentences mean something different? It seems to me that "that" is referring to his attitude, and "it" refers to the act of studying.


What about this:



Her boyfriend likes playing with her dogs. That always makes her happy.



and



It always makes her happy.



Would "that" be reffering to her boyfriend's attitude towards her dogs, while "it" refers to the actual act of playing with them?



Answer



Past answer: deleted.


EDIT: Sorry for my mistake, I didn't notice it. My fault.


Reading it again, they both refer to the same thing but the first part instead, as in the fact that "he likes going there".


But your question was if "that" and "it" mean different things. They mean the same here, but the former is less ambiguous probably because it is a deixis.


"It" is still valid anyway, and in this case they are interchangeable.


Anyway, they refer to the predicate in the first sentence "he likes...", not to the action itself, because in that case, you'd say something different and more complex.


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