'It' as Impersonal Subject
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The document explains the use of 'it' as an impersonal subject in English grammar, detailing various contexts such as introducing new information, discussing time and weather, expressing opinions, and indicating reactions. It provides examples for each usage, showcasing the flexibility of 'it' in different grammatical structures. Overall, it serves as a guide for understanding and using 'it' effectively in sentences.
'It' as Impersonal Subject
- 1. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
- 2. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject ‘It’ is a pronoun. As a personal pronoun it refers back to something that has already been mentioned. They learn to speak English before they learn to read it. Maybe he changed his mind, but I doubt it.
- 3. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject You can also use ‘it’ as the subject of a sentence when it does not refer back to anything that has already been mentioned. This impersonal use of ‘it’ introduces new information, and is used particularly to talk about times, dates, the weather, and personal opinions.
- 4. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject You use impersonal ‘it’ with a form of ‘be’ to talk about the time or the date. It is nearly one o’ clock. It’ s the sixth of April today.
- 5. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject You use impersonal ‘it’ with verbs that refer to the weather: drizzle pour sleet thunder hail rain snow
- 6. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject It’ s still raining. It snowed steadily through the night. It was pouring with rain.
- 7. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject You can describe the weather by using ‘it’ followed by ‘be’ and an adjective with or without a noun. It’ s a lovely day. It was very bright.
- 8. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject You can describe a change in the weather by using ‘it’ followed by ‘get’ and an adjective. It was getting cold. It’ s getting dark.
- 9. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject You use impersonal ‘it’, followed by a form of ‘be’ and an adjective or a noun group, to express your opinion about a place, a situation, or an event. The adjective or noun group can be followed by an adverbial or by an ‘-ing’ clause, a ‘to’-infinitive clause, or a ‘that’-clause.
- 10. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject It was terribly cold in the rooms. It’ s fun working for him. It was a pleasure to be there. It’ s strange that it hasn’ t been noticed before.
- 11. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject You use ‘it’ followed by a verb such as ‘interest’, ‘please’, ‘surprise’, or ‘upset’ which indicates someone’s reaction to a fact, situation or event. The verb is followed by a noun group, and a ‘that’-clause or a ‘to’- infinitive clause.
- 12. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject It pleases me that he wants to talk about his work. It surprised him to realize that he hadn’ t thought avout them until now.
- 13. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject You can also use ‘it’ with the passive of a reporting verb and a ‘that’-clause when you want to suggest that an opinion or belief is shared by many people. This use is particularly common in news reports, for example in newspapers, news websites, on the radio, or on television.
- 14. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject It was said that he could speak their language. Nowadays it is believed that the size is unimportant. It is thought that about a million puppies are born each year.
- 15. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject Note: The passive of reporting verbs can also be used without impersonal ‘it’ to express general opinions. The factories were said to be much worse. They are believed to be dangerous.
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