Question
How can I get to know kinds of English impersonal verbs?
1. It is spring.
2. It rains hard in summer.
3. It snowed hard yesterday.
4. It is 2 p.m.
5. It is Jun 22nd.
6. It is Saturday.
7. He is an architect.
["Rains" and "snowed" are impersonal verbs. In #1, is 'is' an impersonal verb? In #4, 5 and 6, is' is' used as an impersonal verb? In #7, 'is' is not used as an impersonal verb, right?]
1. It is spring.
2. It rains hard in summer.
3. It snowed hard yesterday.
4. It is 2 p.m.
5. It is Jun 22nd.
6. It is Saturday.
7. He is an architect.
["Rains" and "snowed" are impersonal verbs. In #1, is 'is' an impersonal verb? In #4, 5 and 6, is' is' used as an impersonal verb? In #7, 'is' is not used as an impersonal verb, right?]
Answers
Lee
In linguistics, an impersonal verb is one that has no determinate subject. For example, in the sentence "It rains", rain is an impersonal verb and the pronoun it does not refer to anything.
Sentences that contain personal verbs typically have a subject noun — a person, place or thing that is acting in the sentence.
In a broader and more usual sense, however, impersonal verbs in English are those that use a meaningless "it" as the subject.
#7 you are correct.
Sentences that contain personal verbs typically have a subject noun — a person, place or thing that is acting in the sentence.
In a broader and more usual sense, however, impersonal verbs in English are those that use a meaningless "it" as the subject.
#7 you are correct.