Level: beginner
English clauses always have a subject:
His father has just retired. > He was a teacher. (NOT
Was a teacher.)
I'm waiting for my wife. > She is late. (NOTIs late.)
... except for the imperative:
Go away.
Play it again, please.
there
If there is no other subject, we use there to talk about:
- where or when something is:
There's an interesting book on the shelf.
There'll be an eclipse of the moon tonight.
- a number or amount:
There is plenty of bread left.
There were twenty people at the meeting.
- something existing or happening:
There's a small problem.
There was a nasty fight.
it
We use it to talk about:
- times and dates:
It's nearly one o'clock.
It's my birthday.
- the weather:
It's raining.
It's a lovely day.
It was getting cold.
We use it with the verb be and an –ing form or to-infinitive to express opinions:
It's great living here.
It's nice to meet you.
- Subjects of sentences
- it and there as dummy subjects 1
- it and there as dummy subjects 2
Average
Respected team,
We didn't win the competition, but there you go - we can always try again next year.
What does "but there you go" mean here? Does it mean but you can?
Cambridge dictionary says: used to express the fact that you cannot change a situation so you must accept it. I mean in simple words.
Thank you
Hello Hosseinpour,
We use 'there you go' in this context in a similar way to that's life or (we also use the French) c'est la vie. As you say, it means you understand that something bad or unexpected has happened and that you can't do anything about it, so you have to just accept it and carry on.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear Sir,
Thank you for the help and time.
Hello,
I have got a question:
Is it necessary to use a dummy there when you use an adverb of time at the beginning of a sentence as in:
On Friday is the birthday party of my friend.
-->On Friday there is the birthday party of my friend.
In my understanding I would say I need the dummy there, because otherwise the sentence lacks a subject.
Is that correct?
Thank you very much in advance!
Mrs Churcher
Hi Mrs Churcher,
Thanks for your question! Yes, I would also add "there". I think it is borderline acceptable to say "On Friday is the birthday party ...", but using "there" is preferred. Alternatively, people might also commonly say "Friday is my friend's birthday party" (without "on") or "On Friday it's my friend's birthday party" (using "it's").
Technically, "there" is an adverb and not a grammatical subject, even though it normally appears at the start of a sentence. With "there is", the word order is inverted and the grammatical subject follows "is". In the sentence On Friday there is the birthday party of my friend, for example, the grammatical subject is actually "the birthday party of my friend".
I hope that helps to answer your question.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
You're understanding is correct but typically in English it sounds pretty jarring to use the adverb of time first in a sentence.
It's more common to say what is happening, then following up with details about time, location, or who is involved.
https://youtu.be/Sy6iDX3hN3Q?t=68
'I was dancing with Sarah at my friend's birthday party on Friday'
sounds significantly more natural than
'On friday at my friend's birthday party with Sarah I was dancing'
Similarly 'My friend's birthday party (it) is on Friday.' Sounds more natural than forcing the adverb of time to the front and using a dummy 'there'.
Hello teacher,
I am quite confused in these sentence 'Give me your book' and Come here.
I know these are imperative sentence but is there subject or imperative sentence has no subject at all?
Can you please clarify ? Thank you
Hello samn,
There are some rare exceptions to this, but in general that's correct: imperatives don't have a subject.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hello teachers
I've got a hard time understanding how to use an -ing or an infinitive with a dummy it in a sentence. For example:
- It's dangerous driving so fast.
- It's dangerous to drive so fast.
The key of the book says that the second one is correct, however, the first one also make sense to me.
I'll appreciate it if you help me out.
Hello sb sb,
As you say, the first one is intelligible, but I'm afraid your book is right: only the second one is correct.
Unfortunately, there's no simple rule to tell you when to use an infinitive or '-ing' form in a sentence beginning with 'It is ...'. I'd say infinitives are more common than '-ing' forms, but that's not really a useful rule!
When you're not sure what form to use, I'd recommend looking up the adjective in a dictionary with lots of example sentences to see if you can find how it is used. For example, have a look at this entry for 'dangerous' (linked). Under the first meaning, you'll see 'it is dangerous for somebody to do something' with an example sentence with an infinitive.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hello!
Could I ask to clarify the following concerning "There is" and "There are structures' ' ? (I'm sorry that I haven't found this topic on the website to ask my questions there, but I was trying to). If each object is listed separately, do you say "There was no electricity, lights and water" or "There were no electricity, lights and water". Does it depend on plural or uncountable nouns? If we have both, do you say "There was no bread and banana" or "There were no bread and banana?"
Could I change the sentence "There is a small problem" into "We have a small problem". Are they interchangeable?
Hello howtosay_,
No worries. We're writing a page on this topic right now, but I'm happy to answer your questions here for now.
When a list follows 'there is' or 'there are', we generally use 'there is', even though what follows is a series of nouns -- it doesn't matter whether they are countable or uncountable.
Yes, you could certainly use 'We have a small problem' instead of the version with 'there is'. It's possible that they're some difference in some context, but in general I'd say they are interchangeable.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello, Kirk!
Thank you very much indeed!!! I very appreciate your help!!!
Sir, could you explain me the definite article in the sentence?
"It is you''
"It is Jhon''
Is that mean it = Jhon, you?
Can we use the word it to refer to a human?
Hello JameK,
In the very specific situations mentioned at the bottom of our Personal pronouns page, yes, 'it' can refer to people. But most of the time, we use 'he' or 'she' or 'they' (or their object forms 'him', 'her' or 'them').
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you Sir.
Hello please help me clarify the difference between : It's always a pleasure talking to you and It's always a pleasure to talk to you.Many thanks.
Hi Sajatadib,
Both are grammatical and they mean the same thing. :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello!
Please explain why in the sentence - There are two big spiders in the bath. – subject is There, not spiders.
Khatuna
Hello Khatuna,
As the information on the page explains, 'there' is an example of a dummy subject. When we want to talk about something being present rather than something doing an action we generally use a dummy subject like 'there':
'There are two spiders in the bath.'
'There is a man outside.'
Some languages do this in a different way, using the noun as the subject ('Two spiders are in the bath') but this is not the normal way we say it in English.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you so much, Peter.
I am very sorry but I didn't understand the subject in the following sentences.
1) There is a problem.
2) Here is a problem.
Hello Prakash,
We use 'there' as a dummy subject when we simply want to say that something exists or does not exist:
We use 'here' when we are presenting something to someone or want to draw someone's attention to something we have found or noticed:
I hope that helps to clarify it for you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you Peter.😊
A Problem is.
There is a problem.
Have Both sentences same meaning?
What is the Word 'Problem' here?
Hello Prakash,
In a specific context -- for example, as a short answer to a question -- it could possibly work, but out of context, the first sentence is not really correct in English. If you want to say that a problem exists, then you could say 'There is a problem', 'A problem exists', or 'We have a problem'.
Actually, other sentences are also possible, but in general, the first one with 'there is' is the one people use the most.
In 'There is a problem', 'a problem' is a noun phrase and subject of the sentence.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Kirk, thank you.
Hallo, team.
Could you please help me with this sentence.
1. It's Marie, who delivered the package.
2. It's Marie, delivering the package.
Which one is grammatically correct? And why is the other incorrect?
Thank you very much
Hello Risa warysha,
There should be no comma after 'Marie' in either sentence. I understand 1 to be speaking about a past delivery and 2 to be speaking about a future delivery (or a delivery in progress).
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
1. It is called Cleft sentence, cleft sentence ( IT ) is used to emphasize one word in a sentence ( Subject, Object, and Adverbial )
2. it is called reduced adjective clause , it is used as an adjective describing a noun in front of it.
I think that we need not add a comma.
Hello Nevi,
It depends a bit on the situation, but in general the sentence with 'there' as a dummy subject makes a statement about something existing and presents this information as important in a way that the other sentence does not, at least not to the same degree.
In other words, the first sentence calls more attention to the fact that those five people are in the village. Often the sentence with 'there' would make more sense to raise a topic for further comment, whereas the second one would be more likely when we expect that the listener already knows we're about to say more about an issue that's already been raised in some way.
It's difficult to explain very clearly without a more specific situation in mind, but I hope that helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Larrie,
That's not quite right. You need a subject for the verb 'makes':
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello ayaka310,
The concept of dummy subjects (there) is one which causes some controversy and there are different schools of thought on this. Personally, I am quite comfortable with the idea.
However, I would not say 'a roof terrace' is the object here. In this sentence 'a roof terrace' is a complement, which means a word or phrase which completes the meaning of an expression. Here, it would be a subject complement.
These are really areas of analysis which go beyond language teaching and into linguistics. They are very interesting and if you want to pursue this a grammar handbook aimed at linguistics students is a good place to look.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi giorgio.scc,
Option b is definitely the more common one. Option a (with there exist) has quite a literary or formal style. It's good to be aware of these style differences :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Rosie,
Well spotted! Yes, it is grammatical. There can be followed by verbs other than be, but this has quite a literary or formal style. It's much lesson common in everyday speaking and writing. Here are some examples.
Does that help?
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Samin,
Generally, we don't use 'it' for people. An exception is with babies, when it is possible to use 'it' if the gender of the baby is not known. Usually, though, when we don't know the gender of a person or we don't want to assume any gender we use 'they':
With animals you can use 'it', though for pets we often use 'he' or 'she' if we know the pet's sex.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Vishaaal,
Both forms are grammatically possible.
If you have said the saying in the sentence before, then the first one is possible. It describes what was just said. For example:
If the saying is in the next sentence, then the second sentence is better.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello H_L,
When we talk about language, subject is a grammatical question which is all about how the sentence is put together, not about actions in the real world.
The subject is the word (or phrase) which controls the verb. In other words, the verb agrees with the subject (in form) and if the subject changes (from singular to plural, for example), then the verb changes too.
In sentence 4, the verb is is controlled by the subject Smoking. The fact that it is a person who is smoking is irrelevant in terms of the grammar of the sentence.
In sentence 5, the verb phrase would be is controlled by the subject It.
In sentence 8, the verb makes is controlled by the phrase Eating chocolate.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team