Examples of subjects:
subject
Lucy is happy
She ate a cake.
We use “it is” sentences (sentences that start with it + be) to do lots of basic things in English, like to talk about the weather, the time of day, distances between things, or other sorts of general situations or general beliefs. Here are some examples:
It will be sunny on Tuesday.
It is 5:00 pm.
It is difficult to climb a rope.
It was very loud in the club.
The it in these sentences is special because it does not point to anything in the real world. We call this empty :it or expletive it, and we call sentences that use empty it as a subject “expletive sentences.”
In this post, we’ll talk about why we have expletive sentences in English, what kinds of expletive sentences there are, and we’ll talk about when and how to use empty inin sentences. Let’s dive in and find out all the other ways you can use these in your speaking and writing!
What is expletive ‘it’ in English?
Expletive it or empty it is a “filler” that we use as the subject of a sentence that has no logical subject.
In English, when there is no logical subject we use an expletive pronoun as the grammatical subject. It goes before the verb, but has no meaning. There are two expletive pronouns in English: it and there.
It is snowing.
→ Use empty it to describe the state of the world.There is snow on the ground.
→ → Use expletive there to say that something exists in a location.
In this post we’ll focus on “it is” sentences.
Important
Use the same verb forms with empty it that you would use with the personal pronoun it!
It is raining. / It was raining. / It has been raining / …
You can sound more natural if you use contractions like:
it is → it’s
it has been → it’s been
it will be → it’ll be
it would be → it’d be
When to use an expletive ‘it is’ sentence in English?
We use expletive “it is” sentences in English three main ways: to describe the state of the world, to talk about things people generally feel or opinions people generally have, and to focus someone’s attention on another noun in a sentence.
Let’s have a look!
1. To describe the general state of the world: Beginner
The most common use of expletive it in English is to describe the general state of the world.
To talk about times and dates:
It is 6 o’clock.
It is winter.
To talk about weather conditions:
It was a cloudy and stormy day yesterday.
It will be 59 degrees tomorrow.
To talk about other general conditions in a place:
It is noisy outside my apartment.
It is crowded in here!
To talk about distance:
It is 6 miles to Chicago.
It is 383 miles from San Francisco to LA.
2. To describe things people generally feel, say, or think: Intermediate
You can use an “it is” sentence to talk about something that people generally think, say, or feel. There are two main ways to build “it is” sentences to talk about general feelings, thoughts, or opinions.
it + be
adjective
action or situation people generally think the adjective describes
It is hard to climb a rope.
It is weird that Lucy is asleep right now.
Important
Make sure to only use adjectives that describe abstract concepts, ideas, or actions (ex: beautiful, Phrase, silly, annoying, mean, sweet, awesome), not adjectives that describe properties of a thing (ex: small, angry, Phrase).
❌ It is angry to yell at a waitress.
→ The word angry only describes physical nouns.✅ It is mean to yell at a waitress.
→ The word mean can describe actions as well as physical nouns.For a longer list of the most important adjectives you can use in sentences like this, have a look at our list of English raising adjectives.
it
verb
something people generally think or say
It appears that Lucy is sleepy.
It is believed that Lucy is sleepy.
It is reported that Lucy is sleepy.
Important
We can only use certain verbs in sentences like these. For example, we cannot use the verbs love or tell in an it + verb + clause sentence.
❌ It is loved that Lucy is asleep.
❌ It is told that Lucy is asleep.
Grammarians call the verbs we can use in sentences like these raising verbs. Here is a list of the most important English raising verbs and how to use them.
Most raising verbs are always passive in sentences like these, but a few are always active.
✅ It is reported that Lucy is asleep. (passive)
❌ It reports that Lucy is asleep.
❌ It is seemed that Lucy is asleep. (active)
✅ It seems that that Lucy is asleep.
To focus someone's attention on a specific noun: Advanced
You can also use an “it is” sentence to focus attention on one particular noun in a sentence. These sentences can have two forms:
it + be
noun
the rest of the
It was Jeff who drank Maggie’s coffee.
It was my coffee Jeff was drinking, not Maggie’s!
it + be
noun
participle phrase
It is Maggie knocking on the door.
Sometimes we can leave out the clause or participle phrase if we can guess what it would be from context. Here is an example!
My kids broke the window?! I thought it was Maggie’s kids!
→ Even if you are focusing attention on a plural noun, you still use the singular pronoun it!
Empty ‘it’ vs. the personal pronoun ‘it’
While the personal pronoun it, refers back to some specific thing in the world, empty it is a pronoun that refers to nothing – it just does the grammatical “job” of a subject pronoun.
personal pronoun itempty it
She bought a new handbag. It was very expensive.
→ it = the handbag.
It is spring and all the flowers are blooming!
→ the it does not refer to anything specific
Important
Use the same verb forms with empty it that you would use with the personal pronoun it!
It is raining.
→ empty it
I like your bag. It is pretty.
→ personal pronoun
You can sound more natural if you use contractions in “it is” sentences:
it is → it’s
it has been → it’s been
it will be → it’ll be
it would be → it’d be
We sometimes call empty it “dummy it,” because the word dummy refers to a pretend version of something.
To sum up
Now you know that you can use the word it to fill-in for the subject of a sentence without conveying any specific meaning. In our post, we referred to this as an empty subject or as empty it. Let’s recap the main reasons we can use empty it to build an expletive sentence. We use it to…
to describe the general state of the world
to express things people generally feel or opinions people generally have
to focus attention on one noun in the sentence
Ready to practice? Try out texpletive it exercise we’ve created for you. And don’t forget to check out the lists of raising adjectives and raising verbs you can use to talk about general feelings, thoughts, and opinions. Enjoy!
