It as the subject of the sentence
When the pronoun it is used as the subject of a sentence it may represent a living being or a thing: then it is a notional subject. Sometimes, however, it does not represent any living being or thing and performs a purely grammatical function: then it is a formal subject.
A. When it is a notional subject the pronoun it has the following meanings:
1. It stands for a definite thing or some abstract idea — the personal it.
The door opened. It was opened by a young girl of thirteen or fourteen.
(Dickens)
If this is a liberty, it isn’t going to mean a thing. (Heym)
2. It points out some person or thing expressed by a predicative noun, or it refers to the thought contained in a preceding statement, thus having a demonstrative meaning — the demonstrative it.
Itis John.
It was a large room with a great window. (Dickens)
Dick came home late, it provoked his father. (Lindsay)
In the last two cases it is close to this and is usually translated into Russian by это.
B. Sometimes the pronoun it is a formal subject, i, e. it does not represent any person or thing.
Here we must distinguish:
(1) the impersonal it; (2) the introductory or anticipatory it; (3) the emphatic it.
1. The impersonal it is used:
(a) to denote natural phenomena (such as the state of the weather, etc.) or that which characterizes the environment. In such sentences the predicate is either a simple one, expressed by a verb denoting the state, of the weather, or a compound nominal one, with an adjective as predicative.
It often rains in autumn.
It is cold in winter.
It is stuffy in here.
It is delightfully quiet in the night.
N o t e. — The state of the weather can also be expressed by sentences in
which the subject denoting the state of things is introduced by the construction
there is. In such sentences the noun introduced by the construction there is is
the subject.
There was aheavy frostlast night.
There was afine rainfalling over the trees, the flowers, and the people sitting on the benches in the garden.
(b) to denote time and distance.
It is five minutes past six.
It is morning already.
How far is it from your office to the bank? (Galsworthy)
It is a long way to the station.
N o t e. — Sentences with the impersonal it as subject very often correspond
to Russian impersonal one-member sentences.
| It is late. | Поздно. |
| It is freezing. | Морозит. |
| It is cold. | Холодно. |
| It is hot. | Жарко. |
The following sentences, however, correspond to Russian two-member personal sentences:
| It is raining. | Идет дождь. |
| It is snowing. | Идет снег. |
| It is hailing. | Идет град. |
2. The introductoryor anticipatory it introduces the real subject.
It’s no use disguising facts.
It was curious to observe that child.
N o t e. — Some grammarians treat this it as the real subject and the rest of
the sentence as the predicate.
3. The emphatic it is used for emphasis.
It was Winifred who went up to him. (Galsworthy)
Itwas he who had brought back George to Amelia. (Thackeray)
THE PREDICATE
§ 8. The predicate is the second principal part of the sentence which expresses an action, state, or quality of the person or thing1 denoted by the subject. It is grammatically dependent upon the subject.
1 The word thing is used in a broad sense.
N o t e. — This definition does not cover sentences with the formal it as
subject. In these sentences the predicate expresses the state of weather, time,
or distance, and the subject only makes the sentence structurally complete.
As a rule the predicate contains a finite verb which may express tense, mood, voice, aspect, and sometimes person and number. According to the structure and the meaning of the predicate we distinguish two main types: the simple predicate arid the compound predicate.
The simple predicate.
The simple predicate is expressed by a finite verb in a simple or a compound tense form.
It generally denotes an action: sometimes, however, it denotes a state which is represented as an action.
Erik arrived at the lab next morning full of suppressed excitement. (Wilson)
And so, after all, the Padre had been thinking of letting him escape.
(Voynich)
Mr. Rivarez, I have been looking for you everywhere. (Voynich)
When Mary was brought in he gave her the local anaesthesia. (Cronin)
§ 10. There is a special kind of predicate expressed by a phraseological unit, such as to get rid, to take care, to pay attention, to lose sight, to have a wash, to give a push, etc.1
1 There is a great difference of opinion as to the nature of this predicate. Most Soviet grammarians treat it as a subdivision of the simple predicate (Л. П. Винокурова; В. Н. Жигадло, И. П. Иванова, Л. Л. Иофик; М. А. Ганшина и Н. М. Василевская), because it expresses one idea and its two components form an indivisible unit.
There is another view according to which it is a subdivision of the compound predicate. Some English grammarians call it a ‘group-verb predicate’.
When we clear the forests we get rid of such inconveniences. (Heym)
I went to the bathroom and had a good wash for it had been a dusty journey.
(Du Maurier)
The characteristic feature of this predicate is that the first component, i. e. the finite verb, has lost its concrete meaning to a great extent and forms one unit with the noun, consequently the noun cannot be treated as an object to the verb. This can also be easily proved by the impossibility of putting a question to the second component.
C o m p a r e :
My friend gave me an interesting book to read.
The man gave a violent start.
Whereas in the first case we can easily put a question to the object (e. g. What did your friend give you?), in the second case this is impossible.
We shall treat this kind of predicate as a subdivision of the simple predicate. For the sake of convenience we shall call it a phraseological predicate.
We distinguish two types of the phraseological predicate.
1. Word combinations of the following type: to have a smoke, to have a swim, to have a run, to give a laugh, to give a push, to take a look, to make a move, etc. These combinations consist of a finite verb which has to a great extent lost its concrete meaning and a noun formed from a verb and mostly used with the indefinite article.
This predicate denotes a momentaneous action. In Russian this shade of meaning is rendered by different prefixes and suffixes which express, a momentaneous action.
| He had a smoke. | Он покурил. |
| He gave a push. | Он толкнул. |
| He gave a start. | Он вздрогнул. |
| He had a wash. | Он вымылся, помылся. |
| He gave a cry | Он вскрикнул. |
This type of phraseological predicate is characteristic of colloquial speech.
Every now and then she gave a half-glance at the people on the pavement.
(Lindsay)
She gave an unkind throaty laugh. (Lindsay)
Troy said, “First of all, sergeant, have a drink.” (Heym)
He started, made a short run and stopped and looked over his shoulder.
(Dickens)
2. Word combinations of the following type: to get rid, to get hold, to make use, to take care, to lose sight, to make fun, to pay attention, to make up one’s mind, to change one’s mind, to take part, etc.
The second component of these combinations is in most cases an abstract noun used without any article.
That’s more than twenty years ago. She has never made use of her power or
caused me a moment’s uneasiness. (Shaw)
You were making fun of mother just now. (Shaw)
Then he caught his breath, suddenly reminded of something else. (Wescott)
She made a gesture of dismissal and then suddenly changed her mind.
(Wescott)
It is better that you do not know where 1 live. I will get in touchwith you.
(Wilson)
The compound predicate.
As can be seen from the term itself the compound predicate consists of two parts: (a) a finite verb and (b) some other part of speech: a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, a verbal (a participle, a gerund, an infinitive), etc. The second component is the significant part of the predicate.
The first part expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, mood and voice; besides it has a certain lexical meaning of its own. The compound predicate may be nominal or verbal.