10. Dummy subject
Sometimes a sentence doesn’t have a proper subject. For example, we can say “it’s snowing” without mentioning the clouds where the snow is coming from. In English, sentences like this have a dummy subject, which can be it or there.
The dummy subject it is often encountered when talking about the weather.
EXAMPLES:
It is cold.
It rained.
It is also used when talking about time.
EXAMPLES:
Is it Friday already?
It’s six o’clock.
When saying that something or someone is in a particular place, you can use the dummy subject there.
EXAMPLE:
There is food in the fridge.
Compare to The food is in the fridge, referring to a specific, previously mentioned food.
These sentence structures are very common. Using them correctly makes your English sound more fluent.
It’s six o’clock.