Dummy Subjects in English: It and There with Examples

“It’s raining,” says Ava as she looks out the classroom window. “There’s a puddle by the gate.” Both sentences describe the same rainy morning. The first tells us about the weather. The second introduces something Ava can see.

In these sentences, it and there work as dummy subjects. Each fills the subject position without naming a particular person, thing, or place. The choice depends on what Ava wants to say about the scene.

The Role of a Dummy Subject in a Sentence

A dummy subject, sometimes called an empty subject, gives a sentence the subject its grammar needs. Ordinary statements in English generally have a subject and a verb. In “Rain fell overnight,” rain is the subject and fell is the verb. English can also describe the weather with “It rained overnight.” Here, it fills the subject position, and rained tells us what happened.

The word dummy describes a grammatical job. Although it names no particular thing in “It is getting late,” it still belongs in the complete statement. A command works differently. When a teacher says “Come inside,” the students understand that the teacher is speaking to them.

Dummy It for Weather, Time, Dates, and Distance

Use it to describe conditions around you, tell the time or date, or give the distance between places. These sentences make sense even when nobody has mentioned an earlier noun.

In the distance example, from school to the lake gives the two ends of the journey. If a classmate asks, “How far is it?” you can answer “Two miles.” Both speakers understand the distance under discussion without treating it as a name for the school or the lake.

Dummy it also works across tenses. A weather report might say, “It rained yesterday. It is raining now. It may snow tonight.” The verbs tell us when the weather happens and how certain the forecast is.

Introducing People, Things, and Events with There

Use there when you want to tell someone that a person or thing is present, that something exists, or that an event is happening. The words after the verb tell the listener what you are introducing.

Once you introduce something, you can refer to it directly. For example, “There is a key under the flowerpot. It opens the garden gate.” In the first sentence, there introduces the key. In the second, it refers to that particular key.

There Is and There Are with Nouns and Quantities

In standard written English, the noun phrase following there is or there are guides the choice of verb. Use is with a singular noun or an uncountable amount. Use are with a plural noun.

Notice the difference between room and chairs. In the last row, room means available space. Even if there is enough space for several people, the sentence still takes is. When you count individual chairs, the plural noun chairs takes are.

Forming Questions and Negatives with There

To ask a question in the present or past, move is, are, was, or were before there. To make the statement negative, add not after the verb. In everyday speech and writing, is not often becomes isn’t, and are not becomes aren’t.

In the pencil question, there comes after are and still serves as the subject. The change in word order turns the statement into a question.

Anticipatory It in Sentences Like “It’s Fun to Build a Fort”

Sometimes it opens a sentence and a longer phrase or clause supplies the idea later. Grammarians call this anticipatory it. In “It’s fun to build a fort,” ask what is fun. The answer is building a fort.

This pattern lets the reader meet a short phrase such as it surprised us before a longer idea. It is especially natural when the detail at the end deserves attention. In the seed example, the surprise comes from how quickly the seed grew.

Weather and time expressions work differently. In “It is noon,” the sentence gives the time directly. There is no later activity or event to move to the front.

Recognizing Dummy Subjects in Context

The same word can do different jobs, even in two sentences that look alike. Read enough of the surrounding conversation to see what the speaker means.

Dummy It and It That Refers to Something

A useful check is to ask, “Can I name the particular thing this it stands for?” Sometimes an earlier sentence gives the answer. A speaker can also point to something both people can see.

The first two sentences use exactly the same words. At the lunch table, “The soup is cold” expresses the intended meaning. Outside on a winter morning, the speaker is describing the general conditions.

Dummy There and There That Points to a Place

When there points to a place, it answers “Where?” Dummy there introduces what is present. You can hear both uses in a single sentence: “There are two empty seats over there.”

The sentence “There are two empty seats” still tells you something useful before anyone points across the room. The final words over there help you find them.

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Read More

• Parts of Speech in English
• Nouns in English with Examples
• Common and Proper Nouns
• Countable and uncountable nouns
• Collective nouns
• Abstract and concrete nouns
• Gender nouns
• Compound nouns
• Possessive nouns
• Singular and plural nouns
• Plural noun rules