English grammar

Question

I'm having a problem distinguishing a pronoun with an expletive. In this sentence, "It does not take many words to tell the truth", is "it" a pronoun or an expletive?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

MarieClaire
I'm having a problem distinguishing a pronoun with an expletive. In this sentence, "It does not take many words to tell the truth", is "it" a pronoun or an expletive?

I think you are trying to distinguish between two different uses of the word "it".

1) Referring "it" refers back to some inanimate object previously mentioned. (I think this is the one you are calling a pronoun.)

2) Non-referring "it", also called "dummy it", always occurs at the beginning of a clause, and it's a replacement for a subject clause that has been moved to the end of the sentence. (I think this is the one you are calling an expletive, but you should say "expletive it".

(a) To tell the truth does not take many words.
(b) It does not take many words to tell the truth.

Sentence (b) comes from sentence (a) by moving the subject clause (underlined) to the end of the sentence and putting "it" in its place.

The "it" at the beginning of (b) is therefore "expletive it".

CJ

English grammar

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬