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  1. word meaning - Difference between "idiot" and "dummy"? - English ...

    May 20, 2020 · Although idiot and dummy do commonly have the same meaning, the use of idiot in this joking phrase draws particular attention to a specific sense of idiot. From Merriam-Webster's …

  2. pronouns - What exactly is a dummy-it? - English Language Learners ...

    Dec 12, 2023 · "Dummy it refers to nothing at all; it simply serves a grammatical function. In other words, dummy it has a grammatical meaning but no lexical meaning." Here, there are clear meanings and …

  3. pronouns - English Language Learners Stack Exchange

    Sep 20, 2023 · It's an anticipatory "it", as "it" could be replaced with "you joining us". It's not a dummy as it does actually refer to something specific. The second is the same, although calling it anticipatory …

  4. dummy pronouns - Can we use "It varies a lot" at the beginning of a …

    Apr 16, 2024 · The term dummy pronoun refers to the function of a word in a particular sentence, not a property of individual words. For example, it in the example from the previous paragraph is a dummy …

  5. "There is some" or "There are some"- which is correct?

    Nov 4, 2022 · Initial There's is OK before anything. When it's at the beginning of the sentence, it's just a dummy, with no meaning or plural, and it's reified into one word before anything plural can happen in …

  6. It - Preparatory subject - English Language Learners Stack Exchange

    May 3, 2024 · The "it" does not represent a semantic argument and cannot be replaced by any other noun phrase. There is no question of dummy "it" being a preparatory element, since the elements …

  7. pronouns - What exactly is the word "there" in an existential ...

    "There" is a dummy pronoun. A simple diagnostic test that demonstrates that the existential "there" word is a pronoun is to show that it can occur as the subject in an interrogative tag.

  8. comparative constructions - You're taller than (it) is described (Is ...

    QUESTION I'm sure that the dummy subject 'it' in the above examples can be omitted, but is the omission obligatory in the above examples? Or is the omission obligatory in some of the above …

  9. "How far is it from here? VS "How far is it from here to there?"

    1 Dummy pronoun A dummy pronoun, also called an expletive pronoun or pleonastic pronoun, is a pronoun used for syntax without explicit meaning. - wikipedia You ask whether "to there" is required …

  10. "I don't like it when it is rainy." VS "I don't like it raining."

    Jun 3, 2023 · In the simple sentence " It's raining ", "it" is a dummy pronoun that represents nothing at all. It's just there to provide a subject for the sentence because all declarative English sentences …