It / There
Referring to weather, time, or existence
In expressions of weather, time or existence
| IT | THERE |
|---|---|
Use it as the subject of a sentence when talking about the weather, the time or a distance etc. It uses singular verb agreement. |
There has no particular meaning besides the existence of something. It is a placeholder for the subject position in a clause. There is commonly followed by a be verb or a modal. In most cases, the sentence can be restated in a simpler way without there. |
Is it still raining? It's cloudy. (the weather) |
Is there rain on the street still? (Rain is on the street.) |
It was 4 o'clock. (the time) |
There was a clock on the wall. (A clock is on the wall.) |
It's my birthday today. (the time) |
There was a birthday party. (A birthday party occurred.) |
It is over 450 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles. (the distance) |
There are no high-speed trains between S.F and L.A. (doesn't exist) |
It gets dark very early in the winter. (the time) |
There isn't much daylight here in the winter. (Daylight doesn't occur much in the winter.) |
It has been three years since I last saw her. (the time) |
There must be a reason for her absence. (A reason for her absence exists.) |
|
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. (A knock occured on the door.) |
|
There are several questions we need to answer. (Several questions exist that we need to answer.) |
|
There must be easier ways of doing this. (Easier ways of doing this exist.) |
Related pages: There / It Subj Pronouns, "It is" Adjective + Infin, "It takes" + Infinitive
Common Mistakes
Errors and Solutions
Common Mistakes
| ERROR | SOLUTION |
|---|---|
There had been a long time since they saw each other. |
It had been a long time since they saw each other. (time expression) |
It's nothing in the refergerator. It's empty. |
There's nothing in the refergerator. It's empty. (existence) |
It have over 10 million people in my city. |
There are over 10 million people in my city. |
Practice 1
A Play
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Compare your response to the answer by clicking the "check" button.