empty it or not

Question

Hello dears,Do all of these 'it' refer to 'weather'?"It feels like an oven in this room! Open a window.""It's hot in this room. It's like an oven!"Can we use the expression like this 'the weather feels like an oven' about weather? 'The weather feels like an oven outside'.How about the following?Do 'it' here refer to empty it?Sarah is very late, isn't she? It sounds like she is not coming.we took an umbrella because it looked like it was going to rain.The noise is very loud next door. It sounds like they'are having a party.Thanks.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Mickey Mouse 8241Do all of these 'it' refer to 'weather'?

No. They have "dummy it" just like weather expressions do, but there is no direct reference to weather. It is simply a requirement in English that sentences have to have subjects, and "it" is most often chosen to fulfill that requirement when there is no other subject available that would make sense.

Mickey Mouse 8241Can we use the expression like this 'the weather feels like an oven' about weather? 'The weather feels like an oven outside'.

No. That's not a good idea.

Mickey Mouse 8241~~Do 'it' here refer to empty it?~~ Is 'it' empty 'it' in these sentences? Sarah is very late, isn't she? It sounds like she is not coming.we took an umbrella because it looked like it was going to rain.The noise is very loud next door. It sounds like ~~they'are~~ they're having a party.

Yes. It's also called "dummy it".

Mickey Mouse 8241Hello ~~dears~~,

'dear' and 'dears' is generally used only with family and intimate friends. In my opinion, they should not be used in a public forum or with anyone you don't know personally and very well. The only exception is in writing letters, where you use "Dear ..." at the beginning as part of a traditional formula.

CJ

Mickey Mouse 8241 · Answer

CalifJimNo. They have "dummy it" just like weather expressions do, but there is no direct reference to weather. It is simply a requirement in English that sentences have to have subjects, and "it" is most often chosen to fulfill that requirement when there is no other subject available that would make sense.

Thanks CalifJim for sharing your extremely valuable knowledge on English with us.
Can I ask how we can distinguish 'dummy it' and 'real it' where it refers to 'weather'?
In my opinion, in these sentences, 'it' is so tricky and it is hard to find it is dummy or it refers to 'weather'

It feels like an oven in this room! Open a window.
It's hot in this room. It's like an oven!

CalifJim · Answer

Mickey Mouse 8241Can I ask how we can distinguish 'dummy it' and 'real it' where it refers to 'weather'?

"it" does not refer to weather in sentences like "It is raining". We do not say "The weather is raining". Any "it" that is used in a sentence about the weather is considered "dummy it".

Mickey Mouse 8241It feels like an oven in this room! Open a window.It's hot in this room. It's like an oven!

These are dummy it, but they have nothing to do with weather. We don't talk about how the weather is inside a room.

CJ

Mickey Mouse 8241 · Answer

CalifJim"it" does not refer to weather in sentences like "It is raining". We do not say "The weather is raining".

Since I started learning English, I have thought 'it' is always refers to 'weather'.
Thanks for making this so clear.

CalifJimWe don't talk about how the weather is inside a room.

What expression should we 'say' to talk 'weather' inside,outside or general?

Are these correct?
The weather today will be hot and dry.
The weather turned bitterly cold.

CalifJim · Answer

Mickey Mouse 8241Since I started learning English, I have thought 'it' is always refers to 'weather'.

No. "dummy it" means it that doesn't refer to anything". "referring it" means it that refers to something in the real world, that is, "referring it" has a counterpart in the real world, like a pen (It is on the table) or a car (I like to drive it) or a photo (I keep it on my desk). If it doesn't refer to something in the real world, we say that it's dummy it.

Mickey Mouse 8241What expression should we 'say' to talk 'weather' inside,outside or general?

By definition, there is no weather inside. Weather is always about rain, sun, hot and cold, wind, lightning and thunder, storms, and other atmospheric conditions outside.

Conditions inside can often be expressed with dummy it. It's too hot in this room. Or without dummy it you can say This room is too hot or I feel too hot in this room.

Mickey Mouse 8241Are these correct?The weather today will be hot and dry.The weather turned bitterly cold.

Yes. There are some expressions where you can say "the weather" instead of "it". But for these, you can also use dummy it. It will be hot and dry today. It turned bitterly cold.

Most of these expressions are simply idiomatic ways of speaking. You can't always use logic to predict which ones are correct and which ones are wrong.

CJ

Mickey Mouse 8241 · Answer

Thanks for spending too much of your valuable time explaining some important grammatical rules and correcting me.

CalifJim · Answer

You're welcome.

Some of English grammar is hard to explain and hard to learn, so be patient and give yourself time to understand these more complicated parts of it. You can't learn all of it in just a few posts.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

"Sarah is very late, isn't she? It sounds like she is not coming."

CalifJimYes. It's also called "dummy it".

Isn't "It" refer to its antecedent, i .e. to the preceding question "Sarah is very late, isn't she?" thus losing its 'emptiness'?

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous~~Isn't~~ Doesn't "It" refer to its antecedent, i .e. to the preceding question "Sarah is very late, isn't she?" thus losing its 'emptiness'?

Personally, I don't see it that way, but you might make that argument if you can show that English typically allows full clauses to be the subject of sentences with predicates like "sounds like ...".

?"Sarah is very late, isn't she" sounds like she is not coming.

Something about that seems wrong to my ear.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJim?"Sarah is very late, isn't she" sounds like she is not coming.Something about that seems wrong to my ear.

Thank you for the reply.

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