Although idiot and dummy do commonly have the same meaning, the use of idiot in this joking phrase draws particular attention to a specific sense of idiot. From Merriam-Webster's definition of idiot: 1 : a …

2022年11月4日 · By the time the real subject comes along, plural or not, the listener will've forgotten how the sentence started. Since it didn't start with anything meaningful except the dummy existential. …

2023年12月12日 · "Dummy it refers to nothing at all; it simply serves a grammatical function. In other words, dummy it has a grammatical meaning but no lexical meaning." Here, there are clear meanings …

2024年5月3日 · The "it" does not represent a semantic argument and cannot be replaced by any other noun phrase. There is no question of dummy "it" being a preparatory element, since the elements that …

2021年6月9日 · In English, existential clauses usually use the dummy subject construction (also known as expletive) with there, as in "There are boys in the yard"… In the OP's sentence, the subject is not …

2016年4月20日 · It is sunny. (impersonal subject) It is difficult to learn English. (dummy subject or place holder) In Korea, we learn that dummy subject and impersonal subject are different. But, I don't think...

2016年1月5日 · Footnote: "there" isn't the dummy subject in these greetings. "There" is a dummy subject mostly in constructions there is or there are, or before certain verbs in certain contexts.

2023年9月20日 · It's not a dummy as it does actually refer to something specific. The second is the same, although calling it anticipatory seems a bit odd. Both could be rewritten as "You joining us …

2022年12月4日 · 5 I think the "dummy subject"you are talking about is that which is known as an expletive subject. A good example is It is raining. In the text you quote I don't believe this is used in …

2023年5月16日 · Which one is correct? 1 How many meters is it between this tree and that car? 2 How many meters is there between this tree and that car? 3 How many meters are there between this tree …