The Simple Analysis of the Usages of “IT”

【Abstract】“It”，it is the third person singular of personal pronoun in English.In grammar， it is used as the subject or the object of a sentence.And it is usually used to replace concrete lifeless things and animals except human beings.In fact，“it”can be also used to refer to something abstract such as time， distance， nature states， surroundings.Sometimes“it” can be also used to refer to human beings . In addition， “It” can be used to take the place of the subjects or objects which are made of some phrases or clauses. In the cases，“it” ， in grammar， is called the formal subject or formal object .

【Key words】it; replace; refer to; concrete lifeless things; something abstract; grammartical functions

【作者簡介】石海棠，湖北省黄石市第十六中学。

“It”，it is the third person singular of personal pronoun in English.In grammar， it is used as the subject or the object of a sentence.And it is usually used to replace all concrete lifeless things and animals except human beings. In Chinese “it” means “它”.

e. g. （1）Whats this？ It is a book.

（2） Wheres my cat？ It is under the bed.

In fact，“it”can be also used to refer to something abstract. The situation mainly has the following some types：

1. Referring to time.

e.g. （1） What time is it？ Its six oclock.

（2）Its September， and were back at school.

2. Referring to distance.

e.g. （1）Its not far from hereto the bus stop.

（2） Its about five minutes walk from my home to the school.

3. Referring to nature states.

e.g. （1） Its cold today， isnt it？

（2） I hope it will be fine tomorrow.

4. Referring to surroundings.

e.g. （1） Itwas very quiet at the moment.

（2） It is quite close （rather stuffy） in the room. Lets open the window for a while.

Sometimes“it” can be also used to refer to human beings . This kind of usage is often used in the following situations.

1. When the sex isnt known or the sex isnt important， the pronoun “it” can be used for referring to infants.

e.g. （1） Whos the child？ It is Toms little sister.

（2） I have seen her baby. Its very active and lovely.

2. The pronoun “it” can be used for referring to the person in our mind or the person who has been told in the last contents or will be told in the next contents.

i.e， “it” can be used in referring to the person when we telephone or when somebody is knocking at the door（ or the window）.

e. g. （1） A： Who is it speaking？ I dont recognize your voice.

B： Its me Li Ming speaking.

（2） There was a knock at the door. “Who is it？” asked my mother. “Its me， Helen”，answered the knocker.

However， after“it” is used once， then we willtalk about the personagain， the pronoun “it” can be no longer used to replace the person. And “He”（him） or “She” （her） must be used instead of it.

e.g. A： Who is the person at the gate of the post office？

B： It is my friend， Tom. Maybe he is going to send a letter to his girlfriend.

3. “It” can be used to take the place of some indefinite pronouns that refer to a person like somebody， someone...etc.

e.g. （1） Somebody has been here. But we have no idea who it was.

（2） Someone was moving stealthily about the room. It was a burglar. As we watched， he went to the safe and tried to open it.

4. In the emphatic drills， the pronoun “it” can be used for referring to a person who is emphasized.

e.g. （1） It was Mr.Li who（ that）I met in the park yesterday.

（2） It is our monitor who（that）  has cleaned the classroom.

5. In exclamatory sentences， the pronoun “it” can be used for referring to a person. And “it” express contempt， mock-endearment and other feelings.

e.g. Bob came down the road singing. At sight of him， Mike thought aloud what a merry dog it was.

Besides the above usages， the pronoun “it” still has another some grammartical functions.

1. “It” can be used to take the place of the longer subjects which are made of some phrases or clauses.In this case，these longer subjects （the real subjects）must be put in the back of the sentences to keep the balance of the sentences. But in this case， “it” itself has no meanings.

（1）. Taking the place of the subjects made of the phrases of the verbal infinitive.

e.g. （1）It is our duty to attend to this matter.

（2）Its good of you to be constantly thinking of helping others.

（3） Its good to see all my teachers and friends again

（2）. Taking the place of the subjects made of the phrases of gerunds.

e.g. （1） Its no use talking to him about it.

（2）Its good for our eyes doing more eyes exercises.

（3）. Taking the place of subject clauses.

It contains the following types.

i.That-clause.

e.g. （1） It is very likely that their group will get ahead of us.

（2） It happened that I wasnt there that day.

（3）It may be that something has gone wrong with the machine.

ii.  Relative pronoun or adverb clauses.

e.g. （1） It is doubtful whether she will be able to come.

（2） It hasnt been made clear when the new road is to be opened to traffic.

（3） Has it been found out who set the record？

2. The pronoun “it” can be used to take the place of the objects which are made of the phrases of a verbal infinitive or gerunds and a clause in complex objects.In this case， the real objectsare put behind the sentences to keep the balance of the sentences.In grammar，“it”is called the formal object. And “it” itself has no meanings. It mainly contains the following three types， too.

（1）. Taking the place of the objects made of the phrases of the verbal infinitive.

e.g. （1） I felt it my duty to report it to the leadership.

（2） All these noises made it impossible for me to go on with the work.

（3） Jim found it difficult to study Chinese.

（2）. Taking the place of object clauses.

e.g. （1） They found it strange that no one would take the money.

（2） We all think it a pity that she didnt show up at the meeting.

（3） I remember I made it quite clear to you that I was not coming.

（3）. Taking the place of the objects made of the phrases of gerunds

e.g. （1） They deemed it sheer waste of time arguing about it.

（2） Do you consider it any good sending more people over？

3. The pronoun “it” can be used in emphatic drills to emphasize one part of a sentence. In the same way， “it” itself has no meanings.

e.g. Miss Gao met Li Lei in the zoo yesterday. Now lets change this sentence into some kinds of emphatic drills. i.e.

（1） It was Miss Gao who met Li Lei in the zoo yesterday.

（2） It was Li Lei whom Miss Gao met in the zoo yesterday.

（3） It was in the zoo that Miss Gao met Li Lei yesterday.

All in all， in English ，the usages of “it” are very active. “It” not only means “它” in Chinese， but also it contains the functions of personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns in Chinese. In our study， if we want to grasp “it” very well and use “it” freely， we must pay more attention to these differences and  understand the usages and functions of “it”carefully.

References：

[1]Oxford English-Chinese Readers Dictionary[M]. Oxford University Press，1982.

[2]Zhang Daozhen， A Practical English Grammar[M]. the Commercial Press，1989.

[3]Zhang Xinyou， New Study of Posers of English Grammar[M].China University of Geosciences Press，1990.