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!
Expletive it or empty it is a “filler” pronounNo definition set for pronounLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. that we use as the subject of a sentence that has no logical subject.
A subject in English is:
the noun that comes before the verb in a sentence
the noun that a sentence is about (usually the noun that does the action)
But sometimes we want to talk about something that just happened or a situation that just existed – an action that it did not happen to any noun. In this case we have 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.
There is snow on the ground.
In this post we’ll focus on “it is” sentences.
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
✅ It is mean to yell at a waitress.
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.
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 clauseNo definition set for clauseLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
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!
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.
She bought a new handbag. it was very expensive.
It is spring and all the flowers are blooming!
Use the same verb forms with empty it that you would use with the personal pronoun it!
It is raining.
I like your bag. It is pretty.
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.
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!
