Dummy Pronouns for intermediate learners
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?
How to Use Them
These dummy pronouns perform different tasks in English grammar. Let us learn about what they do:
It
- Talking about the weather
- Talking about date and time
- Talking about the distance
Talking About the Weather
When we want to talk about weather conditions, we mostly use 'it' as a dummy pronoun. Please note that 'it' here is used as the subject so without it, the sentence will be incomplete. Take a look at the examples below:
Is
I think
As you can see, 'it' is used to talk about the weather condition.
Talking About Date and Time
When we want to refer to a specific date or time, we can use 'it' as a dummy pronoun. Carefully look at the examples below:
Talking About the Distance
Sometimes we can use 'it' as a dummy verb to refer to the distance from one point to another. Study the following examples carefully:
How far is
I hope
As you can see, the sentence will be incomplete if we remove 'it'.
Tip!
Another one of the uses of 'it' as a dummy pronoun is to function as an emphasizer. When we want to emphasize something in a sentence, we can use this dummy pronoun. Pay attention to the following examples:
There
There is another dummy pronoun that is used to show the existence of someone or something. It has no specific functions and adds no meaning to the sentences. Let us see where we can use it:
- Talking about time and place
- Talking about number and amount
Talking About Time and Place
In English, when we want to talk about a specific time or place, we can use 'there'. Look at the examples below:
Here, the sentence is about the location of a person.
Warning!
Be careful that we can also use 'there' as an adverb and it is different from it functioning as a dummy pronoun. look at the example below:
As you can see, the sentence was 'you are there' which was changed for more emphasis.
Talking About Number and Amount
We can also use 'there' to talk about the amount of something. Look at the following examples:
Warning!
Always remember that the verb changes according to the singularity or plurality of the subjects. Look at the following examples:
There are is seven dogs….)