It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Steve calling from Milwaukee.

Hi, Steve.

Hi there, I have a question that has been baffling me for the longest time, and I’m hoping that you two experts can help me with this one.

How long has it been?

How long has it been? It has been a long time.

And you know, today, it is a very warm day in Milwaukee, and last night it was very dark.

And in February, it usually snows, and in June, it usually rains.

And my question is, when I talk about it, what does it refer to?

It depends on what the meaning of it is.

Is the weather raining? What is it that’s dark? What is it that snows?

Given how common that construction is in English, I bet you are bothered by this every day of your life.

Well, okay, it shows that I don’t lead a really exciting life, and I’m worried about it.

Well, first, I’ll send you some brochures for national parks and you can have a good time. And then we’ll talk about it. Wow, this is a good question. I’m going to throw a little bit of language at you that you probably have never heard before. Have you ever heard of the weather it? W-E-A-T-H-E-R-I-T. The weather it, two words. No.

That’s what this is. It’s called the weather it. And we almost always use this kind of it with either questions about the weather or statements about the weather. Is it raining? Is it wet outside? Is it snowing? Is it blustery?

And what is that it? That it is known as a dummy pronoun.

And it works with verbs, also known as weather verbs, that don’t need a subject.

So does that also relate when I talk about walking into a room where the shades are pulled and the light is off and it is dark?

Yes, it does.

The weather term, the weather it, the weather verbs is more specifically related to verbs that have to do with the weather.

But in general, we’re talking about these conditions where something is all pervasive or apparently universal, at least as far as the subject goes.

And we don’t need to specify that somebody is doing or somebody is being done to.

So that’s the short of it.

Well, I had a question that I’ve held near and dear for a long time, and I thank you for helping me with it.

Let it go.

Now what will you do with your life?

All right. Thank you so much for your call, Steve.

All right. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

I love getting wonky, Martha. I hope that wasn’t too much.

That was pretty wonky, but I don’t know. It does my heart good to know that there are linguists out there sitting around talking about dummy pronouns and the weather it, and getting very worked up about both of those, I’m sure.

It’s time to give us a call, 1-877-929-9673.

And it’s also time to send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.