A dummy pronoun (formally: expletive pronoun or pleonastic pronoun) is a type of pronoun used in non-pro-drop languages, such as English. It is used when a particular verb argument (or preposition) is nonexistent, unknown, irrelevant, already understood, or otherwise not to be spoken of directly, but when a reference to the argument (a pronoun) is nevertheless syntactically required —ie. when there is increasing ambiguity between the pronoun and the subject or object.

For instance, in the phrase, It is obvious that the violence will continue, it is a dummy pronoun, not referring to any agent. Unlike a regular pronoun of English, it cannot be replaced by any noun phrase.

The "weather it"

In the phrase It is raining, the verb to rain is usually considered semantically impersonal, even though it appears as syntactically intransitive; in this view, the required it is to be considered a dummy word.

However, there have been a few objections to this interpretation. Noam Chomsky has argued that the it employed as the subject of English weather verbs ("weather it", called so due to their predominant use in reference to weather) can control an adjunct clause, just like a "normal" subject. For example, compare:

She brushes her teeth before having a bath.

→ She brushes her teeth before she has a bath.

It sometimes rains after snowing.

→It sometimes rains after it snows.

If this analysis is accepted, then the "weather it" is to be considered a "quasi-(verb) argument" and not a dummy word.

Some linguists like D.L. Bolinger go even further and claim that the "weather it" simply refers to a general state of affairs in the context of utterance. In this case, it would not be a dummy word at all.

Dummy objects

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In English, dummy object pronouns tend to serve an ad hoc function, applying with less regularity than they do as subjects. Dummy objects are sometimes used to transform transitive light verbs into intransitive verbs, e.g. do → do it, "to engage in sexual intercourse"; make → make it, "to achieve success"; get → get it, "to comprehend". Prepositional objects are similar, e.g. with it (now old fashioned), "up to date"; out of it, "unconscious". All of these phrases, of course, can also be taken literally. For instance:

He ordered a cheeseburger, and even though it took them a while to make it, he did get some french fries with it.

References

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• Chomsky, Noam (1981) Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris., cited in http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/julkaisut/SKY2004/Alba-Salas.pdf.
• Bolinger, D. L. (1977). Meaning and form. English Language Series, 11. London: Longman.

Syntax | Pronouns