Impersonal constructions in English. Impersonal sentences that begin with It and There. sentences in English"

Astrakhan State Technical University

Department "YAGENO"

Methodological development

grammar topic

"Indefinitely personal and impersonal

sentences in English"

(for studentsI – IIcourses studying English at university).

Astrakhan 1998

Compiled by: Department foreign languages Ass. Fedorova O. V.

Vaguely personal and impersonal sentences.

Remember the following grammar rule:

Indefinite sentences in English contain a subject denoting an indefinite person. The subject can be expressed by the pronoun one; this pronoun is not translated into Russian.

For example:

One should carefully select words and expressions in translating a foreign text.

It is necessary to carefully select words and expressions when translating a foreign text.

One can easily find seas, lakes, rivers on the map.

You can easily find seas, lakes, rivers on the map.

As the subject of an indefinite personal sentence, the pronouns they, we, you are also used in the meaning of an indefinite person,

excluding the speaker.

For example:

They say he will be back on Monday.

When you cross the street you should be careful.

They say he won't be back on Monday.

When crossing the street, you need to be careful.

To find the area of a square we must

knon the length of the side.

To calculate the area of a square, you need to know the length of one side.

Exercise 1.

Translate sentences from English into Russian.

1. On the map one also finds seas, lakes, rivers.

2. They say there is no life without water.

3. One can easily find the way out from the difficult situation.

4.When you write a dictation you should remember the grammar rules.

5.From the window one saw the four large buildings of the university.

Exercise 2.

Translate the sentences into English using the following models:

Model 1. They say the climate in Europe is getting warmer.

They say that the climate in Europe is getting warmer.

1. They say he is a great director.

2. They say she is a talented actress.

3. They say he wants to become a sailor.

4. They say she will teach them French.

Model 2. When you read you should be attentive.

When you read, you need to be careful.

1. When writing a letter, you need to be careful. 2. When you see older people on public transport, you need to give them your seat. 3. When you receive money, you need to count it without leaving the cash register.

Model 3. To get a good mark at school we must prepare the home task at home.

To get a good grade at school you need to prepare your homework at home.

1. To translate foreign texts, you need to know foreign languages.

2. To write a dictation without errors, you need to learn grammatical rules.

3. To get to know each other well, you need to live your whole life together.

Exercise 3.

Compose and translate sentences into Russian using the following verbs .

Model 1: One cannot do everything by himself only with the help of others.

It is forbidden You can do everything yourself, only with the help of others.

1. to hear; 2. to see; 3. to visit; 4. to think; 5. to hope.

Impersonal offers.

Remember the following rule:

Impersonal sentences in English do not have a subject of action, although, due to the grammatical structure of English sentences, they always contain a subject expressed by a pronoun.

In an impersonal sentence it has no lexical meaning, but performs the function of a formal subject and is not translated into Russian.

It's dark now.

(no subject) (predicate)

The predicate in an impersonal sentence can be:

Compound nominal predicate.

A simple verbal predicate.

A compound nominal predicate consists of

A) verb to be noun

copula + adjective noun clause

numeral

b) verbs to become + noun nominal part

connectives to get adjective

Very often such impersonal sentences describe phenomena or states of nature, indicate time, distance.

Consider examples:

It was 9 o'clock.

It becomes hot in summer.

It was nine o'clock.

It gets hot in summer.

It will get cold soon. It's going to get cold soon.

Sentences like “It’s getting dark”, “It’s getting light”, “It’s freezing” are translated as follows:

It is getting dark. It's getting dark.

It is getting light. It's getting light.

Impersonal sentences like “It is difficult (for me) to understand” are a type of nominal impersonal sentences and differ from them in that they express the attitude, the opinion of the speaker about the action, expressed by the infinitive following the adjective.

For example: It is easy to read this book.

When the speaker wants to name the person who performs the action expressed by the infinitive, a phrase with a preposition is used.

For example: It is easy for him to read this book.

In such impersonal sentences, adjectives are most often used:

Difficult - difficult

Easy - light

Necessary - necessary

Important - important

Strange - strange

Interesting - interesting

Possible - possible

Impossible - not possible, etc.

The structure of an impersonal sentence.

Type A: It is cold; It is interesting. It is difficult to help him.

Is it –cold? Yes, it is. (No, it isn't.)

It is not cold.

Type B: It gets/becomes cold.

It gets cold. in autumn.

Does it get cold? in autumn? Yes, it does.

become No, it doesn’t.

When Does it get cold? - In autumn.

It doesn't get cold.

Type C: It is getting dark.

It is getting dark.

Is it -- getting dark? Yes, it is.

No, it isn't.

It is not getting dark.

The interrogative and negative forms in impersonal sentences are built according to general rule. The auxiliary verb changes depending on the tense. It must be remembered that the verb “to be” itself acts as an auxiliary verb and does not additionally require another verb.

Exercise 1. Read and translate the following sentences into Russian. Put them in interrogative and negative form.

1. It is usually dark at 6 o’clock in winter. 2. It is always cold in January. 3. It was simple to translate that letter. 4. It was warm yesterday. 5. It will be interesting for you to read this English book. 6. It was easy to find the railway station. 7. It is difficult for him to learn this text by heart.

Exercise 2.

Make up three sentences based on the following patterns, using adjectives.

dark - dark cold - cold

hot - hot late - late

warm-warm.

a) It is light here now.

b) It was early morning.

c) Is it already ten o’clock?

Exercise 3.

Translate the following sentences into English using the models.

Model 1: Dark - It is dark.

1. Light. 2. It's hot. 3. Cool. 4. Warmth. 5. Interesting. 6. It's important to know this. 7. It's hard to ask about this. 8. It was cold in November.

Model 2: It is getting light.

1. It gets dark. 2. It becomes warm and light. It's getting chilly. 4. It gets boring. 5. It's getting hot.

1. It gets hot in July. 2. It gets light at five o’clock in the morning. 3. When does it get dark? 4. It becomes difficult to understand it.

Exercise 4.

Put the following sentences in the past and future tenses, changing the tense accordingly.

1. It is cold today. 2. It is dark here. 3. It is eight o'clock. 4. It is easy to understand this simple text. 5. It is Interesting to listen to your stories. 6. It is difficult for me to learn some grammar rules. 7. It is dark in this room. 8. It is important for me to invite them how. 9. It is strange for us to hear such words. 10. It is strange for him to see you here.

Exercise 5.

Answer the questions, paying attention to impersonal sentences.

1. It is usually cold in April, isn’t it?

2. Is it usually dark or light in the streets at five o’clock in the morning in summer?

3. Was it warm or cold yesterday?

4. Will it be warm or cold tomorrow?

5. Is it usually hot or cold in summer?

6. Won’t it be late if I ring you up at eleven o’clock to-night?

7. Is it the shortest (longest) day of the year today?

8. Is it colder or warmer today than it was yesterday?

Exercise 6.

Translate the following sentences into English.

1. It's very dark here. Let's study in room No. 3. 2. It’s cold near the window. Let's sit here, it's warmer here. 3. This is not a very important question, let's discuss it tomorrow. It's very late now. 4. It was very early, but when I approached the river my brother was already waiting for me. 5. It is too early to discuss the results of our work. 6. Winter. Cold. 7. In winter it is difficult to get up early because it is dark in the morning. 8. Katya knows German and French, so it’s easy for her to learn English. 9. It is strange that she does not take part in the discussion of this report. 10. Is it difficult for you to walk? Let's take a taxi. 11. It’s not at all strange that Tom didn’t agree to go with you to the city of N. He never likes this place.

Exercise 7.

Change the sentences into impersonal ones using the impersonal “it” according to the model.

Model: He came to Moscow only yesterday. It was only yesterday that he came to

1. I recognized him only when he came up to me.

2.He used to read to us Cheknov's stories.

3. I couldn't read this book because of the small type.

4. This student made a very good report on the international situation at the meeting yesterday.

5. He made so much progress in English because he worked a great deal.

6. His smile made me recognize him immediately.

7.I objected to his taking part in this work.

8. He improved his phonetics by reading books aloud.

9. I give him on my home.

10. In our country men of education and culture, men of lofty principle and moral integrity are most highly esteemed.

Remember the following rule.

The predicate in an impersonal sentence can be a simple verb, which is expressed by verbs denoting states of nature:

To rain, to snow, to freeze, to thunder, etc.

For example: Il often rains in autumn.

It often rains in autumn.

It snowed in December.

It rains/snows in spring.

Does it rain/snow in spring? Yes, it does

No, it doesn't.

When does it rain/snow? - In spring.

It doesn't rain/snow in spring.

It is raining now.

Is it – raining now? Yes, it is.

It is not raining now.

Interrogative and negative sentences are constructed according to the general rule. The auxiliary verb changes depending on the tense. But the verb “to be” auxiliary verb does not require.

Do the following grammar exercises:

Exercise No. 1. Read and translate the following sentences into Russian. Put these sentences in interrogative and negative form.

1. It often rains in autumn. 2. It is snowing now. 3. It was thundering at eleven o’clock yesterday. 4. It rarely snows in October. 5. It will rain soon.

Exercise No. 2. Translate into English.

1. Look out the window. It's raining? 2. Was it snowing yesterday? -No. It didn't snow yesterday and it was very cold. 3. When I left the house, it was raining. 4. When does it rain often? – It rains often in autumn. 5. It rarely snows in this city in November.

Exercise No. 3. Put in the future and past tenses, changing the tense accordingly.

1. It snows a lot in winter. 2. It rains in autumn.

3. It is snowing now. 4. It thunders in summer.

Exercise No. 4. Translate sentences based on models.

Model 1: It snows in winter.

1. In April and May it rains every day. 2. It often snows in January. 3. Does it snow in England in winter? 4. Does it rain there in summer?

Exercise No. 5. Agree with or disagree with the statement. Complete your answers.

Model: It is warm in summer.

Yes, you are right. It is warm in summer. Summer is the warmest season

Model: It rains in February (Snow).

Excuse me, but it doesn’t rain in February. There is a lot of snow in Feb-

1. It snow in spring (begin to melt)

2. It is raining in autumn.

3. It is cold in winter.

4. It is foggy in the afternoon (in the morning).

5. It is cold in August. (hot).

6. It is difficult to translate this text. (easy).

Remember the following grammar rule.

In addition, impersonal sentences include sentences where the predicate is a verb expressing doubt, probability, chance, for example:

to seem, to happen, to appear, to turn out, etc.

This includes such impersonal phrases as:

it seems - it seems

to appear - apparently, obviously

to happen it turns out

For example:

It seems that he works much.

Seems, He works a lot.

It turned out that nobody knew anything about the matter.

It turned out, that no one knows anything about this matter.

The interrogative and negative forms of such sentences are constructed according to the general rule.

The structure of sentences of this type.

It seems that she knows English.

Does it seem that she knows English?

It doesn’t seem that she knows English.

Do the following exercises:

Exercise No. 1. Read and translate the following sentences into Russian. Put these sentences in interrogative and negative form.

1. It seems that she cooked breakfast.

2. It appears that your friends often come to you.

3. It turned out that Helen saw him in the cinema.

4. It happened that Tom got a bad mark.

5. It turns out that she works at the factory.

Exercise No. 2. Translate the sentences into English.

1. It turns out that he got up at 10 o’clock yesterday.

2. I think I saw her somewhere, but I don’t remember where.

3. Apparently, she knows English well, as she translates this text very quickly. 4. I think I read this book.

5. Apparently. Jane won't come.

Exercise No. 3. Read the text and change the sentences to impersonal or indefinitely personal, using the pronouns one, we, you, they, it and impersonal sentences like:

It turns out...

It is important to remember…

It is necessary to know...etc.

There is no life without water. Man can Live without clothes, without shelter, and even for some time without food. Without water he soon dies.

Some people say that man and his story is “a question of water and Little else”. Allhis food has water, from about 60 to as much as 95 per cent. His body is about 70 per cent water. But often man does not have enough water.

Man needed something to carry and keep water in, and so the idea of pottery was born. And the industry is thirsty too. People need 3.5 liters of water to produce a kilogram of dry cement, 10 liters to produce one liters of petrol, 100 liters to produce one kilogram of paper, and so. on.

The earth has as much water as it ever had: no more, no Less. But with every year the world gets Larger and Larger. That’s why everyone must use water sparingly.

I write – You write – She writes

number(singular/plural)

will/shall- for future times

tobe– for passive or continuous

tohave- for the perfect

Functional and semantic verbs form grammatical units as lexical wholes.

I have asked - I asked

Impersonal

There are 3 impersonal forms (infinitive, gerund, participle). Impersonal are verbal derivatives in the role of other parts of speech.

Infinitive– verbal adjective / adverb / noun like “ to+ verb stem."

Gerund– verbal noun with ending — ing.

Participle- verbal adjective with endings - ed/en/ing.

Grammatical categories

Unlike personal forms, impersonal forms do not change in person/number and have similar grammatical features. They have aspect, voice and aspect (only in the infinitive).

Perfect impersonal forms express activity prior to other activity.

I’m glad to have helped you – Gladwashelpyou

Passive impersonal forms express activity over the subject.

I wanted to be asked that question – Iwanted, toThatquestionaskedto me

The continuous infinitive expresses activity in the process.

I like to be reading this story now – To melikereadthisstoryNow

Confusion

Impersonal forms can determine and even be the subject, but do not act as its verbs. Sometimes they are in vain substituted instead of verbs.

The main difference between impersonal forms and nouns/adjectives is that the former can take their own object.

Building a houseis complicated – ConstructionHouses- casetroublesome

There are 2 difficulties with impersonal forms. Resembling verbs, they sometimes force you to write unfinished sentences. The second difficulty is that the difference is very difficult to discern. Despite the same ending, the gerund and the present participle are different parts of speech with different approaches.

In English, as in Russian, there are many types of different sentences. From simple and complex, which are divided into complex and complex, to impersonal. In speech, we quite often use sentences such as: “Spring. It was getting dark. It’s getting colder,” etc.

Such sentences are called impersonal (“ impersonal sentences"), since the sentence does not indicate the person performing the action, and often the action itself is missing.

We suggest you dive a little into grammar and find out all the details in this section of English. Go!

What are impersonal sentences in English?

Impersonal offers(impersonal sentences) - a special type of sentence in which the character cannot be clearly identified: (he?) is getting colder, (she?) is getting colder, (it?) is getting colder.

In Russian, compared to English, everything is much simpler, since we can easily use only one word, which will be a whole sentence.

The grammatical structure of sentences in English is quite strict. In order to correctly construct an impersonal sentence, you need to remember that you can’t get by with just one English word. Therefore, an impersonal English sentence is essentially a sentence with a formal subject “ it", since the specificity of English requires the use of a holistic grammatical framework.

Thus, if in Russian we say: “Rainy”, then in English it will be: “ It's rainy" We will examine in more detail the nuances of using impersonal sentences in English below.

When to use impersonal sentences

There are quite a lot different cases the use of the pronoun “it” in impersonal sentences in English, but one of the most common examples is the weather, because the weather is the favorite topic of conversation for any self-respecting Englishman.

A few examples for clarity:

It's rainy. - It is rainy.
It's foggy. - It's foggy.
It's sunny. - Sunny.

As you can see from the above examples, "it" is always subject to, albeit formal. With the weather we can use the verb " to be» in the present tense (Present Simple), followed by adjective; or instead of the simple one, use the temporary form “ Present Continuous", namely:

It's getting better.- Getting better.
It's getting foggy. - It's getting foggy.
It's getting hotter. - It's getting hotter.

Important to remember! The Simple & Continuous tense line is used in the present, past and future. Respectively:

is - was- will be(for simple tense);
is getting - was getting - will be getting(for a long time).

The English impersonal sentence also occurs when we mean years, days or dates. Since time is an inanimate noun, we never use pronouns such as: “ I», « you», « he" or " we" The only companion is " it" Examples:

Hey,Samantha!What time is it?-It's 2 o'clock, Sam.
Hey Samantha! What time is it now? - Two hours, Sam.

It's Monday.It is time to get up and make breakfast.
Monday. It's time to get up and make breakfast.

It"s the 24th of March. My man and I have a wedding anniversary today.
Twenty-fourth March. Today is my husband and I's wedding anniversary.

When we talk about time, or rather about a specific period of time that is required to achieve a specific goal, it is not uncommon to use the connective “ it takes / it lasts", which may be followed by an infinitive.

Conclusion

In general, impersonal sentences in English should not present much difficulty. The main thing is to understand whether the topic of the situation really requires the use of such a sentence; use the pronoun “it” and the required form verb depending on the tense and type of sentence: affirmation, negation, question.

Believe you can speak English and you"re halfway there!

Big and friendly EnglishDom family

The English language is rich in idioms and interesting phrases, but not only them. Often we need to say simple sentences that seem easy to speak, but for some students are problematic in construction. For example, how do you say in English about the weather “sunny”, “evening” or “winter”? As you noticed, there is no person in such sentences, they are impersonal. Impersonal sentences in English are those sentences in which not only the person who performs the action is often missing, but also the action itself is missing. Confused? Just! Let's consider the features of the formation of impersonal sentences, get acquainted with striking examples and shed light on frequently asked questions.

To learn impersonal sentences, you first need to understand the peculiarities of constructing simple sentences, gradually taking on more complex ones. As examples, we use the above sentences ‘’Sunny’’. ‘It’s getting evening’. ''Winter''. In English it will be like this => It is sunny. It is getting dark. It's winter.

On a note! Most often, impersonal sentences in English are used to denote weather phenomena and natural conditions.

What does the construction of an impersonal sentence consist of if there is no active person in it? Pronoun it+ verb to be- the main active members of the proposal.

But! Remember that the verb to be can be used in different tenses - past, present and future. The exact time can be determined from the context. For example, it is, it was, it will be – verb variations tobe in different times (present, past and future).

Here are some examples:

Verb to be plays the role of the predicate, and the role of the subject belongs to the pronoun it. Pronoun it performs the function of the subject always and everywhere (in all types of impersonal sentences).

To better understand the principle of the formation of impersonal sentences, let us explain the situation with examples:

Autumn => It is autumn.
Spring will come soon => It will be spring soon.
Warmth => It is warm.
Cold => It is cold.
It's hot => It is hot.
It will be cool in summer => It will be cool in summer.
It was getting dark => It was getting dark.

A specific tense (the form of the verb to be) is chosen depending on the specific situation or based on the context. The particle it remains unchanged for all temporary forms.

Constructions it is, it was, it will be are used to translate various sentences that contain an adverb. For example, how to translate sentences that contain adverbs close, far, impossible, Maybe, difficult, easily etc.? Let's explain everything with examples:

Interrogative form of impersonal sentences

To form interrogative form, verb to be should be placed at the beginning of the sentence:

Is it already dark? => Is it already dark?
Is it near the window? => Is it next to the window?
Is it drizzling? => Drizzle?

Please note that the verb to be will have different forms ( is, are, am ).

To form a negative shape, you only need to add a particle not .

It was not raining. => There was no rain.
It is not snowing. => It's not snowing.

Impersonal sentences: where they are used and when they are appropriate to use

If you need to answer the question: “What time is it?”, it is appropriate to use impersonal sentences:

It is 9 o’clock now => It’s nine o’clock now.
It was half past 5 => It was half past five.
When I return it will be 11 o’clock => When I return it will be 11 o’clock.

If you need to talk about the weather, describe it, then we use impersonal sentences with verbs to snow, to rain, to drizzle, to hail etc.:

It is snowing days and nights => It snows days and nights.
It often rains these days => It often rains these days.
It will be drizzling => It will drizzle.

If you need to say how long it will take to perform a particular action:

It takes me half a day to get to the station => I need half a day to get to the station.
It will take some time to learn so many rules => It will take some time to learn so many rules.

Note! We use the design i t takes... to... . If there is such a construction, it automatically means that you need to use an impersonal sentence.

If you need to describe an action where the infinitive is used. The following words are often used in such sentences => to seem, to appear, to happen, to turn out, never:

It is hard for me to say ‘’hello’’, but it is never late => It’s hard for me to say “Hello,” but it’s never too late (I’ll still have time to say hello).
It happened to be clear and sunny => It turned out that the weather was clear and sunny.
It turned out funny but this young director is my close friend => It turned out funny, but this young director is my close friend.

If you need to express modality with verbs must, may, can. In this situation, the subject is the word one:

One cannot cope with everything at once => You cannot cope with everything at once.
One have to wash hands before his dinner => You need to wash your hands before lunch.
One must sign in here => Here you need to register (log in).

On a note! When translated into Russian, the word one is omitted (it is not translated in any way).

Let's sum it up

By doing the exercises every day, you will quickly learn the intricacies of forming an impersonal sentence. It is important to change words in sentences every time, create different situations and use all possible words of your vocabulary. Regular exercise, patience and effort will lead you to success and new knowledge. Learn and improve!

In Russian, we can easily construct sentences consisting of one word: “It’s cold. Hot. Difficult. Late".

But how to do this in English?

After all, English has its own word order, and the sentence must have a main character.

Therefore, according to the rules of the English language, we cannot translate these sentences “in Russian” in one word: “Cold. Hot. Difficult. Late."

To build them there is a special construction It is, which I will tell you about in this article.

From the article you will learn:

How to construct impersonal sentences in English

What are impersonal sentences?

Impersonal sentences are those sentences in which no main character . Let's look at this with an example.

We use impersonal offers:

1. To describe weather and natural phenomena
For example: It's cold. Dark.

2. To indicate time, date, day of the week, etc.
For example: 6 hours. Monday.

3. To indicate distance
For example: Far. Close.

4. To express the speaker's opinion
For example: Fun. Difficult.

Attention: Confused about English rules? Find out how to easily understand English grammar.

To construct such sentences in English, you need to use construction it is.

Let's look at it in detail.

Rules for the formation of impersonal sentences in English

Such sentences are formed very simply: using the pronoun it and the verb to be at the right time. Offer outline:

It + verb to be + other parts of the sentence

It does not indicate a person and is not translated into Russian, but in the formation of a sentence it takes on the role of the main character.

The verb to be is a special type of verb. We use it when we say that someone:

Located somewhere (He's in the park)
Is someone (She's a nurse)
Is somehow (Gray cat)

Depending on the tense in which we use this verb, in combination with the pronoun it, it changes its form:

In the present tense Present Simple - It is…= It’s….

It is hot.
Hot.

It is 5 o'clock.
5 o'clock.

In the past tense Past Simple - It was…

Itwas dark.
It was dark.

It was easy.
It was easy.

In the future tense Future Simple -Itwill be…

It will be difficult.
It will be hard.

It will be fun.
It will be fun.

Negation in impersonal sentences in English

Sometimes we need to say negative sentences: “It’s not difficult. Not windy. Not far." To form such sentences, we need to add a negative particle not to the verb to be.

The outline of such a proposal:

It + verb to be + not + other parts of the sentence

We can construct such negative sentences in the present, past, and future tenses.

In the present tense Present Simple - It is not…= It’s not...

It's not important.
Doesn't matter.

It’ snot cold.
Not cold.

In the past tense Past Simple - Itwasnot…

It wasn't funny.
It wasn't funny.

It wasn't dark.
It wasn't dark.

INfuturetimeFuture Simple - It will not be… = It won’t be…

Will it be windy?
Will it be windy?

So now you know what impersonal sentences are. Let's get to practice.