How can I teach the word "It?"

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meridiann
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How can I teach the word "It?"

Post by meridiann » Mon Jun 16, 2003 6:13 am

My adult students are really confused about the word "it".

They understand how it is used to replace things already known from context (like, "This is a banana. You have to peel IT."

But it doesn't seem to translate into anything directly sometimes, such as in this sentence:

"IT was a good thing that you showed up, because we needed your help!"

If anyone can help me out or refer me to an online resource, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

-Ann

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Lorikeet
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Re: How can I teach the word "It?"

Post by Lorikeet » Mon Jun 16, 2003 6:28 am

meridiann wrote:My adult students are really confused about the word "it".

They understand how it is used to replace things already known from context (like, "This is a banana. You have to peel IT."

But it doesn't seem to translate into anything directly sometimes, such as in this sentence:

"IT was a good thing that you showed up, because we needed your help!"

If anyone can help me out or refer me to an online resource, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

-Ann
I'm not sure of the correct explanation, but it seems this construction follows the pattern:

It's fun to sing. Singing is fun.
It's easy to do that. Doing that is easy.
It was a good thing that you showed up. Your showing up was a good thing.

To me, "it" is a place holder, holding the subject place. The meaning of the two sentences is about the same. I think if students understand the meaning of the sentence they won't have to translate the "it" anyway.

Don't know if I answered anything, but it's fun to think about it. (Yeah, thinking about it is fun :wink: )

Roger
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Post by Roger » Tue Jun 17, 2003 12:15 am

"It" is one of several so-called PERSONAL PRONOUNS, and if you want to adequately explain "it", you must deal with those other pronouns as well - I, you, he, she, it, etc.

Your problem, however, is that "it" has some functions that other pronouns do not have. It is to do with a phenomenon proper to Indo-European languages. "It" can be a "demonic" subject, one that cannot be replaced with a noun (as 'you' can - "you, Mr Jiang"). Compare
-"it rains" and "it is raining" with
- "He is taking a bath": "He" is a person known to the speaker, "it"
is a subject with no known identity.

You might fare better in this case by teaching what I recently have learnt to call "collocations". Teach entire phrases or clauses with their meanings, such as "it rains" or "it snows".
You must, of course, also be able to explain to your students the difference between
"it is raining" versus "it's rainy". Not an easy thing if their grasp on grammar is poor (or yours).

meridiann
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Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2003 6:07 am

thanks

Post by meridiann » Tue Jun 17, 2003 1:41 am

thankyou for both replies, which were helpful.

Since it was causing my students confusion,
I guess what I was struggling with was finding a way to describe, in terms they'd understand, how "IT" is used as what you called a "demonic subject". I've never heard that term before. From a philosophical standpoint, I'm not sure if I have this right- but maybe it reflects the Western idea of having general, abstract principles applying to individual situations. As you noted, unique to Indo-European languages.

The comparison between "it rains" and "He is taking a bath"
or, "it's hot" and "he is hot", I think will also help them.
I suppose they are probably just thinking about it too much!

Norm Ryder
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Location: Canberra, Australia

Some uses of "it"

Post by Norm Ryder » Thu Jun 19, 2003 10:37 pm

meridiann

When “it” refers back to someone or something we already know, it’s called a “personal pronoun”, as Roger says. But “it” can also be used in an impersonal sense, referring to something yet to come; or even to something “in the atmosphere”.
“It’s going to rain” is a case where “it” refers literally to the atmosphere; while in “I really like it in Hawaii”, “it” refers to a rather vaguer type of “atmosphere”; and in “It’s pretty creepy in here, isn’t it” to an “atmosphere” that’s vaguer still. I guess you could often say that “it” refers to “the situation”, rather than just “the atmosphere”, as in “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.

The classic example of the impersonal “it” referring to something yet to come is the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man, in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”. If Jane Austen had begun with “That a single man ... must be in want of a wife”, she would have given us a mouthful of a subject, and also have taken the sting out of “a truth universally acknowledged”.

"It" can also refer to a time or a place, as in "It was after two when we left the party"; or "It was in Antarctica where I first got to know Cecilia". In your example: "It was a good thing that you showed up", "it" allows the emphasis to fall on the "good thing", and also gives the listener time to come to grips with the whole situation. Compare: "That you showed up was a good thing".

Maybe you'd find it fun, meridiann, filling out a page with "every which kind" of example:!:

Happy hunting.
Norm

Norm Ryder
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Demons!

Post by Norm Ryder » Mon Jun 23, 2003 4:54 am

Hi, guys

This is a question, not a comment. Roger et al. have been using the term "demonic subject", and I gather it covers subjects that I called "the atmosphere" or "the situation", "the time" or "the place" that is implied by "it". I can't, however, find the term in my Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, or my Cobuild Grammar, or in Kaplan's English Grammar (a 'structural' grammar). Is it something from functional grammar (a la Halliday?); or from elsewhere?

Cheers
Norm

Roger
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Post by Roger » Tue Jun 24, 2003 1:15 pm

Sorry for having sowed confusion rather than enlightenment! My use of the term "demonic" seems to have backfired. The reason is, perhaps, that this 'it' really is a mysterious, enigmatic entity that generation upon generation of native speakers wonder about. In point of fact, I have NEVER seen the term "demonic subject' being applied. It was used by one of my teachers, and it was not in the English class!
WHich goes a long way to show that imaginative teaching can have a more lasting effect than textbook learning! My teacher obviously only had the best of intentions...
There seems to be no hard and fast explanation or label for this 'it', athmospheric or demonic. The best solution might be - accepting it as a collocation!

Norm Ryder
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Joined: Wed Jan 29, 2003 9:10 pm
Location: Canberra, Australia

demons

Post by Norm Ryder » Thu Jun 26, 2003 10:36 pm

Thanks Roger.
The demon provoked a bit of interesting research, anyway. There's so much we take for granted until someone puts us on a spot!

Norm

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