GUIDE ENGLISH GRAMMAR BOOK

6 INFORMATION AND EMPHASIS PAGE 60
With a gerund clause we use both patterns.
Making new friends is difficult./It's difficult making new friends.
b It can also be an empty object in the pattern subject + verb + it + complement +
clause.
I find it difficult to make new friends.
We all thought it a pity so few people came.
The government has made it clear that no money will be available.
c
It can also be an empty subject before seem, appear, happen, chance, turn out and
prove.
It seems the phone is out of order.
(= The phone seems to be out of order.)
It happened that I had my camera with me at the time.
(= I happened to have my camera with me at the time.)
This pattern with it is a little formal.
There is also the pattern it looks/seems as if/as though.
It looks as if we're going to get some snow.
For It is said that..., • 109.
d We can use it+ be before a phrase in order to emphasize it. • 51(3)
It's the phone (not the doorbell) that's out of order.
e
It can also refer to the environment, the weather, the time or distance.
It's getting dark. It was cold yesterday.
Is it five o'clock yet? It's only a short walk to the beach.
6 There or it?
There + be expresses the fact that something exists or happens. It + be identifies or
describes something, says what it is or what it is like. We use there with a noun
phrase of indefinite meaning, e.g. a young lady, something. It refers to something
definite, e.g. the young lady, something known in the situation. It can also refer
forward to a clause.
there
There's a young lady at the door. It's Lorraine.
(= A young lady is at the door.) (= The young lady is Lorraine.)
There's a wind today.
Yes, it's windy.
(= A wind is blowing.) (= The weather is windy.)
There weren't any classes. It was Saturday.
(= No classes took place.) (= The day was Saturday.)
There isn't any truth in the story. It isn't true what they say.
(= The story has no truth in it). (= What they say isn't true.)
it