Dummy pronoun "it"

4 used as the subject of a sentence when you are talking about the weather, the time, a distance etc:

Is it still raining?

It was 4 o'clock and the mail still hadn't come.

It's my birthday today.

It's over 200 miles from London to Manchester.

It gets dark very early in the winter.

It's three years since I last saw her.

7

a) used to say who a person is:
'Who's that over there?' 'It's Robert Morley.'

b) spokenused to say who is speaking, especially on the telephone:
Hello, it's Frank here.

It's all right, it's only me.


- Longman -


These are definitions of the pronoun it and I have learned that dummy pronoun or impersonal pronoun when it is used for the definition of the #4 but I have heard that even when it is used for the #7 like it is me and it is you, etc, it is called a dummy pronoun, so do you agree with this or only when it is used like it is raining, it is Wednesday ,etc, it can be called a dummy or impersonal pronoun or can we consider it as a dummy pronoun in the both definitions?


Thank you so much as usual in advance.