English is a language, unlike Spanish, where you can't miss out the subject. The technical term for whether you can miss out the subject is the 'null subject parameter'.
The problem comes when there isn't a semantic subject. Nobody's doing the raining; so you use a dummy subject. The 'it' refers to nothing at all.
what's "it" in "it's raining"?
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
-
fluffyhamster
- Posts: 3031
- Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 6:57 pm
- Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
-
daleglendale
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2010 3:57 am
- Location: Spain
Some more interesting information,exploring the notion of the dummy subject/ weather"it" concept (taken from Wikipedia):
Weather it
In the phrase It is raining, the verb to rain is usually considered semantically impersonal, even though it appears as syntactically intransitive; in this view, the required it is to be considered a dummy word.
Contrarian views
However, there have been a few objections to this interpretation. Noam Chomsky has argued that the it employed as the subject of English weather verbs ("weather it", so called because of its predominant use in reference to weather) can control an adjunct clause, just like a "normal" subject. For example, compare:
She brushes her teeth before having a bath.
→ She brushes her teeth before she has a bath.
It sometimes rains after snowing.
→It sometimes rains after it snows.
If this analysis is accepted, then the "weather it" is to be considered a "quasi-(verb) argument" and not a dummy word.
Some linguists like D.L. Bolinger go even further and claim that the "weather it" simply refers to a general state of affairs in the context of utterance. In this case, it would not be a dummy word at all. Possible evidence for this claim includes exchanges such as:
"Was it nice (out) yesterday?"
"No, it rained."
Luckily for most teachers, the overwhelming majority of students will just accept "it" as the subject when referring to the weather. Perhaps the same sort of acceptance is made when English speaking students learn a foreign language where a subject isn't always necessary.
Weather it
In the phrase It is raining, the verb to rain is usually considered semantically impersonal, even though it appears as syntactically intransitive; in this view, the required it is to be considered a dummy word.
Contrarian views
However, there have been a few objections to this interpretation. Noam Chomsky has argued that the it employed as the subject of English weather verbs ("weather it", so called because of its predominant use in reference to weather) can control an adjunct clause, just like a "normal" subject. For example, compare:
She brushes her teeth before having a bath.
→ She brushes her teeth before she has a bath.
It sometimes rains after snowing.
→It sometimes rains after it snows.
If this analysis is accepted, then the "weather it" is to be considered a "quasi-(verb) argument" and not a dummy word.
Some linguists like D.L. Bolinger go even further and claim that the "weather it" simply refers to a general state of affairs in the context of utterance. In this case, it would not be a dummy word at all. Possible evidence for this claim includes exchanges such as:
"Was it nice (out) yesterday?"
"No, it rained."
Luckily for most teachers, the overwhelming majority of students will just accept "it" as the subject when referring to the weather. Perhaps the same sort of acceptance is made when English speaking students learn a foreign language where a subject isn't always necessary.