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MarieClaire Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

English grammar

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?

  

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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".

  • 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.
  • ) 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.
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1 Answers
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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 thi

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