We commonly use the pronounitas both a subject and an object pronoun:
Don’t drink the milk.Itsmells terrible.
Has anyone seen my phone? I can’t finditanywhere.
We often useitin question tags:
That furniture is lovely.Itisn’t too expensive for us, isit?
You know the flat with three bedrooms by the supermarket?It’s the best one we’ve seen so far, isn’tit?
See also:
Tags
It,thisandthatin paragraphs
Itas an ‘empty’ or ‘dummy’ subject and object
We can useitas an ‘empty’ subject or as an ‘empty’ object. It is ‘empty’ because it doesn’t refer to anything in particular:
I knowit’s going to rain today!
It’s getting a bit late now, so let’s watch a DVD at home, shall we?
She doesn’t likeitwhen you are so quiet.
How long willitbe before he gives up smoking?
Anticipatoryit
We also useitto introduce or ‘anticipate’ the subject or object of a sentence, especially when the subject or object of the sentence is a clause. Most commonly, such clauses areto+ infinitive andthatclauses. We also call this use ofita ‘dummy’ subject, since the real subject is another part of the sentence (real subject underlined):
It’s goodthat she’s doing more exercise.(or, more formally:That she’s doing more exercise is good.)
Itwas niceto talk with them again.(or, more formally:To talk with them again was nice.)
It’s quite likelythat we shall be late, so please do start without us.
I find it amazing that…
With verbs such asfindorconsider,it+ adjective +thatclause orit+ adjective +toinfinitive, are commonly used to anticipate an object:
I finditamazing that they’ve never stopped arguing about football.
Not:I find amazing that they’ve…
I must say, local people will consideritto be an insult that they have not learned to speak a few words of the language.
I finditsurprising to see so many people here.
We also useitwhen a clause is the subject of a verb such asappear, seem, look, occur, which hedge or soften the statement, making it less direct:
Itseems they’ve all lost contact since they met at the wedding.
Itoccurred to me that we might visit them while we are in South Africa.
See also:
Hedges (just)
Itand cleft sentences (It was my friend who…)
We useitin cleft sentences.Itemphasises the subject or object of the main clause:
Itwas his sister who ran the marathon in New York, wasn’t it?
[talking about a computer problem]
Wasitthe printer that caused the problem?
Itwas Mary they promoted, not Laura.
See also:
Cleft sentences (It was in June we got married.)
Itwith the passive voice
Itis common with the passive voice.Itmakes the sentence seemless personal and more objective:
Itwas decided that we should all swim across the lake before breakfast.
Itis accepted that research into cancer has advanced considerably in the last few years.
See also:
Passive: active and passive