SHPORA.net :: PDA

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Notional and formal.
Notional has 2 meanings:
1. Personal it – a definite thing or an abstract idea. Translated as îí, îíà, îíî.
The elephant is intelligent. It never forgets.
2. Demonstrative it – points out some person or thing expressed by a predicative or refers to the thought in a preceding statement.
It’s Jane.
They were shouting. It was terrible.
Formal subject it is used to complete the structure of the sentence grammatically.
1. Impersonal it – weather, time, distance, measurements, things in general.
It was too late.
2. Introductory it – introduces the notional subject expressed by inf, gerund, inf/ger phrase, predicative complex, or a clause.
It felt funny watching myself on TV.
3. Emphatic it – used in cleft sentences.
It was Jane that bought dinner.
EXISTENTIAL THERE
Expresses the existence of a person or non-person denoted by the notional subject. THERE behaves like a grammatical subject. THERE is used with to be or verbs like seem, appear, exist, remain, come.
There comes a time when you have to make a choice.