Impersonal sentences

STRUCTURE “THERE + TO BE”

1. Formal or “dummy” subject “it” has no real meaning of its own. It is used in expressions referring to time, weather, temperature or present situation,

e.g. It’s Monday.

It’s five o’clock in the afternoon.

It is warm but wet because it has been raining for three days.

It is unpleasant to go out.

2. Formal or “dummy” subject “it” is also used to express different ideas such as possibility, usefulness, emotional reaction, truth, convenience, appearance, ideas coming into one’s head and so on,

e.g. It is important for her to speak to the dean when she arrives.

It seems that we can’t go on like this.

It’s kind of you to let me come.

3. Formal or “dummy” subject “there” is used to indicate the presence of some object in some place or to tell that something exists or doesn’t exist.

e.g. There are no interesting stories in this book.

There will be 500 delegates at the conference.

Is there a shorter way to the station?

4. Formal or “dummy” subject “there” can be used with all tense forms,

e.g. There is much work this month.

There was much work last month.

There has been much work to do this month.

Will there be a History lecture tomorrow?

5. Formal or “dummy” subject “there” must always be repeated in question tags,

e.g. There will be enough time for everybody to speak, won’t there?

There were no new words in the text, were there?

6. Formal or “dummy” subject “there” must always be repeated in special and general questions with the exception of questions that begin with the question word “where”,

e.g. There are 12 stories in this book. – How many stories are there in this book?

There was an old shed in the corner of the garden. – What was there in the corner of the garden?

But: Where was the old shed?

7. Formal or “dummy” subjects “there” and “it” are often used in the following expressions with the meaning ‘ Не имеет смысла..; Бесполезно...’

it is / there is no use + gerund there is no sense in + gerund

it is useless + infinitive there is no need + infinitive

there is no point in + gerund

e.g. There is no sense in making him angry.

There is no point in talking about it again.

Do you think there is any use crying?

There is no need to hurry.

It is useless to clean the windows now, it’s going to rain in the evening.

8. Formal or “dummy” subject “there” is often used with modal verbs, and is also common with the expressions “seem + to be” and “appear + to be”,

e.g. There must be summer dresses on sale now.

There seems to be much snow on the ground.

There appear to be several reasons for changing our plans.

9. Formal or “dummy” subject “there” is often used with Participle I and Participle II to show the action done by the person or object mentioned in the sentence,

e.g. There was a girl water-skiing on the lake.

There will be a lot of people injured on the roads because of this awful fog.

10. Formal or “dummy” subject “there” can also be used with some other verbs beside “to be”. These verbs are common for a more formal style. They are:

to live to exist to remain to arise to follow to appear to enter to come

e.g. There once lived a rich merchant who had three daughters.

Once upon a time there lived three little pigs.

There remains nothing more to be done.

Suddenly there appeared a strange figure dressed in black.

There followed an uncomfortable silence.

11. Though sometimes formal subjects “it” and “there” can be interchangeable, they should not be confused. Compare:

• “It is” is used with adjectives while “there is» is used with nouns.

It is + adjectives there is + noun

It was wet. There was a lot of rain.

It is foggy. There is a thick fog.

It won’t be sunny today. There won’t be much sun today.

Remember! Dummy subject “it” is never used with adverbs.

Adverbs cannot be used with link verbs.

• “It is” is not equal to “there is” for time and distance. Compare, e.g.

It is a long way to New York. (the distance is large)

There is a long way still to go to New York. (it will take us long)

It’s time to go home, it’s after midnight. (the time is now)

There is time to go home and come back again before the film starts. (time is available)

• “It is“ is used for identity while “there is” is used for presence, compare: e.g.

There is someone at the door. I think it’s a postman.

There is some key here. Is it the key to the safe?

There is a grandmother who lives in the village.

It is the grandmother who makes all the decisions in the family.

**TASK 27. Fill in the blanks with “it” or “there”.

1. ______ are ruins of an ancient castle not far from that village. ______ was probably built by William the Conqueror.

2. I’m in a hurry, is ______ a shorter way to the supermarket? – Yes, ______ is a path between these two houses.

3. ______ is a pity that you can’t come to Jill’s birthday party with me. ______ will be many interesting people there.

4. I was so tired yesterday and ______ wasn’t a single empty seat in the bus. ______ was very difficult to stand all the way home.

5. ______ was a quiet pleasant winter evening. ______ was a lot of snow everywhere.

6. ______ was too windy in the morning. ______ was no use going to the beach.

7. ______ was no wind yesterday, though ______ was very cold.

8. ______ was day already. ______ was a ride to the country to look forward to.

9. ______ was still a day to spare. ______ was great luck.

10. ______ wasn’t enough light. ______ was difficult to read.

11. ______ was some light coming through the trees. ______ was hope in it.

12. ______ was a great joy to get the news of our team’s victory. ______ was a celebration ahead.

13. ______ was a joy written all over her face. ______ was no sham.

14. ______ could be anybody. ______ was difficult to see through the mist.

15. ______ was nobody in the house. ______ could be no mistake about it.

16. ______ was not much to be added, and ______ was a relief.

17. ______ was too much to be said about him, and ______ was felt by everybody present.

18. ______ is another letter from Polly, isn’t ______ fine?

19. ______ was another of his letters, and ______ was a lot of bitterness expressed there.

20. ______ is about ten already. ______ is time to start. ______ is all the time we need. ______ is no need to hurry.

**TASK 28. Write questions to the given sentences. Use the suggested question words.

1. There will be three English classes on Tuesday because our German teacher has fallen ill. (How many? When? What? Why?)

2. There was a new pink blouse in my suitcase. (Where? What? What kind? What colour?)

3. There have been three History lectures this week. (How many? What? What lectures? When?)

4. There was a pop concert in the park yesterday. (What? Where? When? What kind?)

5. There will be a lot of work in the office at the end of the month. (How much? When? Where?)

6. There will be two conferences on this question in Kiev next year. (What? Where? When? How many?)

7. There were few people on the beach yesterday because it was rather cold. (Why? Where? How many? When?)

***TASK 29. All the words in the sentences below are jumbled. Reconstruct the word order and translate the sentences. All these sentences have either “it” or “there”.

1. wrong, her, is, with, there, nothing.

2. snow, were, footsteps, there, in, no, the.

3. anything, worrying, there, is, you?

4. life, could, there, something, in, awful, her, be.

5. person, should, party, this, be, interesting, at, there, least, one, at.

6. to, mind, it, easy, is, make, him, not, change, his.

7. tomorrow, will, evening, you, suit, come, to, it?

8. point, her, making, there, hiking, no, is, with, go, us, in.

9. him, join, appeared, to, there, be, to, reason, for, us, another.

10. bus, go, possible, there, it, by, is, to?

11. little, there, pigs, upon, lived, merry, once, a, time, three.

12. English, is, you, fluent, for, understand, easy, to, it?

13. boring, to, sense, lectures, listening, is, in, any, these, there?

14. night, took, get, three, me, last, hours, it, home, to.

15. there, many, playing, in, how, children, garden, were, the?

***TASK 30. Translate the following sentences into English using “it” or “there” wherever possible.

1. Приближается гроза. На небе такие темные тучи, что мне страшно.

2. Сегодня было такое количество телефонных звонков, что совсем не было времени ответить на все письма и телеграммы.

3. Вчера на скоростной трассе М-25 произошло столкновение пяти машин. Было много разбитых стекол и спущенных шин, но к счастью, не было ни одной жертвы.

4. На вечеринке было слишком много людей и слишком много шума, чтобы говорить о чем-то серьезном. Не было никакого смысла даже начинать обсуждение этого вопроса.

5. На полу, где Дэвид упал, было много воды. На его одежде на было ни единого сухого места.

6. Очень важно дать Джонсонам знать об этом происшествии сейчас же. Бесполезно скрывать от них то, что произошло.

7. Пора начинать. В зале уже много людей, и не имеет смысла ждать. Мэр уже не придет. Он никогда не опаздывает.

8. В предложении мистера Грина есть определенный смысл. Должен быть какой-то разумный выход из этого положения.

9. В глазах Теда была надежда, и в это было трудно поверить после стольких месяцев отчаяния.

10. Бесполезно чинить ваши часы, лучше купить новые. В ювелирном магазине на центральной площади много современных, красивых и недорогих часов.

11. Питеру было очень трудно запомнить бесконечные ряды цифр. Ему было гораздо легче работать с утра до ночи в поле, чем изучать математику в колледже.

12. Было бесполезно заставлять Эмму учить неправильные глаголы. Ее память была похожа на решето, а в ее контрольных было огромное количество ошибок.

13. Саймон, с вашей стороны нетактично так разговаривать с вашей тетей. Вы должны извиниться. – Я не думаю, что мне следует извиняться. Моя тетя - самый бестактный человек в нашей семье.

14. Посмотри, на углу кто-то стоит и машет нам рукой. Это, должно быть, Эллен. У нее что-то в левой руке. Ты не видишь, что это?

15. Это был чудесный вечер. На небе не было ни единого облачка, и солнце, казалось, садилось прямо в море. Это был самый красивый закат, который я когда-либо видел.

16. Посмотри, еще только 4 часа, а уже темнеет. Я не думаю, что имеет смысл начинать работу сейчас. Давай отложим ее на завтра.

17. В его предательство трудно верится. Здесь должно быть какая-то ошибка. – Боюсь, что уже бесполезно обсуждать этот вопрос. После драки кулаками не машут.

18. Кто там сидит в углу? – Не знаю. Отсюда невозможно увидеть.

19. Сколько конфет было в коробке, когда ты пришла домой? – 30. – А сколько в ней сейчас? – 13. Я не знаю, где остальные конфеты, я их не ела. Это, наверное, ваша собака.

20. На юге Англии не очень холодно зимой, и поэтому там редко идет снег. В горах Шотландии снег идет довольно часто, и на вершинах гор много снега.