Dummy Pronouns

For beginners

Dummy pronouns function grammatically the same as other pronouns, except they do not refer to a person or thing like normal pronouns do.

What Are Dummy Pronouns?

All sentences in English need a subject to be complete, but some sentences seem to not have a subject. In these cases, dummy pronouns fill the place of the subject in the sentence.

English Dummy Pronouns

There are two dummy pronouns in English:

It
There

'It' as a Dummy Pronoun

The dummy pronoun 'it' can serve as a dummy subject in sentences that talk about time, date, or weather. Look at these examples:

It's 5 o'clock in the morning.

It's January 3rd today.

It's raining.

Using the Dummy Pronoun 'It' as the Subject

Tip!

Dummy 'it' has no real meaning in the sentence and is used only to complete the grammatical structure of the sentence by providing a subject. Do not confuse it with third person neutral subject pronoun and object pronoun 'it' which has meaning and refers to a real thing.

Dummy Pronoun 'There'

The word 'there' is used as a dummy subject to show that a particular situation exists. Although 'there' does not refer to anything specific, it introduces the situation that the sentence is talking about. Look at these examples:

There are two chairs in the kitchen.

There was a loud noise outside.

There must be a way!

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What Are Dummy Pronouns?
English Dummy Pronouns
'It' as a Dummy Pronoun
Dummy Pronoun 'There'

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