i guess follow me @bethposting on bsky or pillowfort


discord username:
bethposting

upthorn
@upthorn

Is there, like, a word for what it is doing in English constructions like "it's raining" or "it's hot"?

Normally it is a pronoun which stands in for a noun that has been previously referred to, or is obvious from context. But what is it standing in for in these sentences? In English, "raining" is a verb that actually does not take a subject. Sort of like the opposite of an intransitive verb. It can rain frogs. It can rain blood. But nothing can rain.

Like, replace It with any conceivable word that might be being referred to in the sentence "It's raining." None of those replacements will be correct.

Is there a linguistic term for this phenomenon of an "empty" pronoun being used to stand in for the lack of a subject?
Also, is there any established term for a verb that takes no subject? The closest I can think of is ergative but I'm not sure that's quite accurate.



You must log in to comment.

in reply to @upthorn's post:

My first assumption was that it probably is replacing something but language has evolved such that it would sound weird to say "the weather is raining", "the sky is raining" or "the rain is raining". But I know the construction is similar in French, il pleut, il neige etc., which lead me to finding Impersonal Verbs as the answer for your second question.

I can't find a definitive word for what "it" is doing. It might be a Dummy/Expletive Pronoun/Subject. But I'm not an expert, I just found this stuff online.

in reply to @bethposting's post: