English grammar

368. We have learned that the pronoun it may be used as an anticipative subject to throw the real subject after the predicate. This real subject may be a noun clause or an infinitive phrase.

It will never be known whether the lady came out of that door or the tiger.

It is a mistake to suppose that the fox cannot be tamed.

369. We must not conclude that the word it at the beginning of a sentence is always an anticipative subject. Sometimes it is the real subject, that is, it is a neuter personal pronoun having for its antecedent some term perfectly understood by both speaker and listener; as, “Have you read ‘The Call of the Wild’? It is the story of a dog that reverted.”

370. Sometimes it is used for subject with no special word for antecedent; as when we say, “It was blowing great guns.” (See § 252.)

371. In the familiar expression, “It is time to get up,” the antecedent of it is the word now or the term the present moment.

372. It is not the only word used as anticipative subject. Another word is there; as in the sentence, “There is snow on the top of Pike’s Peak.” If we ask the question, What is on the top of Pike’s Peak? the sensible answer is not there, but snow, hence snow is the subject. The word there does not denote place, hence it is not an adverb. It is used merely to fill a gap in a declarative sentence in which the subject has been placed after the verb, for if the gap were not filled and the sentence began with a verb, it would seem to be interrogative. When so used the word there is called an expletive, which means a word used to fill up a gap.

373. Of course there at the beginning of a sentence is not always an expletive. Sometimes it is an adverb denoting place; as, “There will I build me a nest.”

Note.—When there is an adverb we pronounce it distinctly, but when it is an expletive used as anticipative subject, we slur it.

Summary.—The word it is often used as an anticipative subject so that the real subject may come after the verb. The word there may be an anticipative subject. It is then called an expletive.

Exercise.—Analyze the following sentences. If there is an anticipative subject, state that fact before giving the real subject; thus,—In the sentence, “Once upon a time there were four little rabbits,” the anticipative subject is the expletive there; the real subject is four little rabbits. The predicate is were once upon a time.

1. There would be several insuperable difficulties in adopting the moon as a residence.

2. Every object on the moon would be only one sixth as heavy as the same object on the earth. There a box containing a pound of chocolate bonbons would weigh only two or three ounces.

3. It is a little curious that the effect of a short allowance of food does not show itself in hunger.

4. There never was such a hailstorm in Wisconsin.

5. It is just the right time of the moon for planting sweet peas.

6. There were dances, theatricals, and sleighrides that winter.

7. It would amuse me very much to sing while I am hunting.

8. A cannon that breaks loose from its fastenings on a ship is suddenly transformed into a supernatural beast. It is a monster developed from a machine; it has the weight of an elephant, the agility of a mouse, the obstinacy of the ox; it takes one by surprise, like the surge of the sea; it flashes like lightning; it is deaf as the tomb; it weighs ten thousand pounds, and it bounds like a child’s ball.

9. That day there came our first great snowstorm.

10. There lay the beautiful piece of embroidery that mother had put away so carefully and forgotten so completely.

11. There’s a special providence that watches over idiots, drunken men, and boys.

12. There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin.

13.

It made the children laugh and play,

To see a lamb at school.

14. In the reign of King Arthur, and in the county of Cornwall, near to the Land’s End in England, there lived a worthy farmer, who had an only son, named Jack.

15. There the two old dogs sat and talked of the wonderful tenacity of rheumatism that has once settled in a dog’s shoulder.

16. There was one passenger in the coach,—a small, dark-haired person in a glossy buff calico dress.

17. Professor Boyesen describes what he calls the saeter, the spring migration of the dairy and dairymaids. It is the great event of the year in all the rural districts.

18. There were three Catherines, two Annes, and a Jane.

19. It is said in Ceylon that the cocoanut, like the magpie and the robin, will flourish only within sound of the human voice.

20. There is always a sad element in the departure of a steamer.