Weather it One of the most common uses of dummy pronouns is with weather verbs, such as in the phrases "
it is snowing" or "
it is hot." In these sentences, the verb (
to snow, to rain, etc.) is usually considered
semantically impersonal even though it appears syntactically
intransitive; in this view, the required
it in "it is snowing" is a dummy word that does not refer. In English literature, there is also marginal use of the feminine
she, such as in the phrase "
Shes going to rain."
Other views Although the weather
it is frequently considered a dummy pronoun, there have been a few objections to this interpretation.
Noam Chomsky has argued that the
it employed as the
subject of English
weather verbs can control the subject of an
adjunct clause, just like a "normal" subject. For example, compare: :
She brushes her teeth before having a bath. ::→
She brushes her teeth before she has a bath. :
It sometimes rains after snowing. ::→
It sometimes rains after it snows. If this analysis is accepted, then the "weather
it" is to be considered a "quasi-(verb)
argument" and not a dummy word. Some
linguists such as
D. L. Bolinger go further, claiming that the "weather
it" simply refers to a general state of affairs in the context of the utterance. In this case, it would not be a dummy word at all. Possible evidence for this claim includes exchanges such as: :
Was it nice (out) yesterday? :
No, it rained. where
it is implied to mean "the local weather".
Existential there Another common use of dummy pronouns in English is the use of
there in
existential clauses, such as in the phrase "
there are polar bears in Norway." This is also occasionally referred to as the anticipatory
there. This should be distinguished from the locative
there, as in "I saw a polar bear over
there." This use of
there acts as a
locative adverb rather than a subject. While the existential use of
there has generally been analyzed as a subject, it has been proposed that elements like expletive
there in
existential sentences and
pro-
forms in
inverse copular sentences play the role of dummy predicate rather than dummy subject, so that the postverbal
noun phrase would rather be the embedded subject of the
sentence.
Raising verbs Other examples of semantically empty pronouns are found with
raising verbs in "unraised" counterparts. For example: :
It seems that John loves coffee. (Corresponding "raised" sentence:
John seems to love coffee.) :
There is a bird flying outside. (Corresponding "raised" sentence:
A bird is flying outside.)
Extraposition Dummy
it can also be found in
extraposition constructions in English, a process known as
it-extraposition. For example: :
It is fun living in Paris. (Corresponding non-extraposed sentence:
Living in Paris is fun.) At least in English,
it-extraposition appears much more frequently than non-extraposition. ==Dummy objects==