Uses of the impersonal pronoun it
It can be used as a subject to an impersonal verb.
It is the only impersonal pronoun in English. The following are some of the important uses of it.- It is raining.
- It is snowing on the mountains.
- It is Sunday today.
- ‘What is the time now?’ ‘It is 5 o’clock.’
- It is always cloudy on the hills.
- It is not easy to defeat him. (More natural than ‘To defeat him is not easy.’)
- It is dangerous to play with fire. (More natural than ‘To play with fire is dangerous.’)
- I am taking the meat back to the shop because it isn’t good.
- The baby is crying. It must be hungry.
- I did not disturb the child because it was sleeping.
- I love my dog. It is almost human.
- I will not sell my cow because it yields 10 litres of milk every day.
- It was Susie who painted this picture.
- It was John who broke the window.
- It was Nancy who made the cake.
- It was the Prime Minister who made this announcement.
- Jack was maltreated by his uncle; and he could not forget it all his life.
source: englishgrammar.org
— Darling, did you pay your dues to the Zen-Yogi society?
— My dear, I'm a paid-up member. This is their Iatest position.
— Are you comfortable?
— Don't I Iook it?
— Of course.
—Is there anything new in the paper tonight?
—Ohh... Nothing much. A revolution in South America, a war in Asia, a flood...
Oh, here's something. It says our friends, Marty and CIaude, were sent up the river.
— Good. They needed a vacation.
*up the river (slang): to prison
Cousin Itt:
