2. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
‘It’ is a pronoun. As a personal pronoun it
refers back to something that has already
been mentioned.
They learn to speak English before they learn
to read it.
Maybe he changed his mind, but I doubt it.
3. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
You can also use ‘it’ as the subject of a
sentence when it does not refer back to
anything that has already been mentioned.
This impersonal use of ‘it’ introduces new
information, and is used particularly to talk
about times, dates, the weather, and personal
opinions.
4. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
You use impersonal ‘it’ with a form of ‘be’ to
talk about the time or the date.
It is nearly one o’ clock.
It’s the sixth of April today.
5. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
You use impersonal ‘it’ with verbs that refer to
the weather:
drizzle pour sleet
thunder hail rain
snow
6. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
It’s still raining.
It snowed steadily through the night.
It was pouring with rain.
7. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
You can describe the weather by using ‘it’
followed by ‘be’ and an adjective with or
without a noun.
It’s a lovely day.
It was very bright.
8. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
You can describe a change in the weather by
using ‘it’ followed by ‘get’ and an adjective.
It was getting cold.
It’s getting dark.
9. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
You use impersonal ‘it’, followed by a form of
‘be’ and an adjective or a noun group, to
express your opinion about a place, a
situation, or an event. The adjective or noun
group can be followed by an adverbial or by
an ‘-ing’ clause, a ‘to’-infinitive clause, or a
‘that’-clause.
10. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
It was terribly cold in the rooms.
It’s fun working for him.
It was a pleasure to be there.
It’s strange that it hasn’t been noticed before.
11. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
You use ‘it’ followed by a verb such as
‘interest’, ‘please’, ‘surprise’, or ‘upset’ which
indicates someone’s reaction to a fact,
situation or event. The verb is followed by a
noun group, and a ‘that’-clause or a ‘to’-
infinitive clause.
12. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
It pleases me that he wants to talk about his
work.
It surprised him to realize that he hadn’t
thought avout them until now.
13. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
You can also use ‘it’ with the passive of a
reporting verb and a ‘that’-clause when you
want to suggest that an opinion or belief is
shared by many people. This use is
particularly common in news reports, for
example in newspapers, news websites, on the
radio, or on television.
14. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
It was said that he could speak their
language.
Nowadays it is believed that the size is
unimportant.
It is thought that about a million puppies are
born each year.
15. ‘It’ as Impersonal Subject
Note: The passive of reporting verbs can also
be used without impersonal ‘it’ to express
general opinions.
The factories were said to be much worse.
They are believed to be dangerous.
