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"The main problem with "it" is that it's a pronoun, so you must be absolutely clear about what "it" refers to. " Absolutely false. The use of "it" without an a
by Darmani 17y ago
"The main problem with "it" is that it's a pronoun, so you must be absolutely clear about what "it" refers to. "
Absolutely false. The use of "it" without an antecedent is called "expletive," and is perfectly valid. I agree that it's often bland, but there's no need to go around asking yourself "What does 'it' refer to here?"
- tokenadult 17y agoYou are correct that the English idiom "It's raining" is just the normal way to say that in English. The corresponding Russian sentence Идет дождь would translate literally into English as "goes rain," while the Chinese sentence 下雨 would translate as "falls rain," with the unusual word order being an example of topicalization in those languages.