Impersonal Verbs

 

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/impersonal-verbs/

Have you ever used an impersonal verb? Of course you have, you just didn’t know it.

Impersonal verbs are verbs that do not use a specific subject, but instead use the generic subject it. They’re often called “weather verbs” or “meteorological verbs” because they’re commonly used to describe the weather, like in the impersonal verb examples “it’s raining” or “it’s snowing.” 

Although they’re fairly straightforward, impersonal verbs can be confusing if you don’t know how they work. Below we explain what they are and how to use them, plus we provide an impersonal verbs list so you can learn to recognize them. 

Unlike other verbs, impersonal verbs don’t use what’s called a “determinate subject,” which is a subject that describes something specific, like the person or thing doing an action. Instead, they mostly use the impersonal pronoun it, which does not represent anything in particular. In other words, impersonal pronouns don’t specify who or what does the action, the action just happens on its own. 

Impersonal verbs usually refer to the weather or other general conditions, like light and dark, but they can also be used with certain idioms or common phrases, which we will explain later. 

In other languages, stating the subject of a verb is sometimes optional, but English requires the subject be stated for all sentences except imperatives (commands), which use the “understood” second-person subject. So while in Spanish you can say that it’s raining by shouting “llueve!” in English it’s incorrect to shout only “is raining!” because that’s not a complete sentence. You need to add the impersonal pronoun it as the subject. 

With impersonal verbs, the subject it doesn’t actually mean anything; it’s more like a placeholder because the sentence needs a subject. When we say things like “it’s storming” or “it occurred to me,” the subject it doesn’t represent anything in particular. For this reason, the subject of an impersonal verb is sometimes called a “dummy subject.” 

Some verbs are always impersonal, but sometimes normal verbs can act like impersonal verbs depending on how they’re used. For example, the verbs be and happen can act as impersonal verbs when used to talk about the weather or certain general conditions. 

Why is it so hot today?

It’s darker in here than it is outside. 

It happened to rain during our camping trip. 

The majority of impersonal verbs relate to the weather, but not all. Certain idioms and phrases use otherwise normal verbs as impersonal verbs. 

So it’s come to this. 

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to war. 

Likewise, the verb phrase looks like can act as an impersonal verb when used in a generic sense or when used to talk about the weather. 

It looks like a win for San Lorenzo. 

It looks like a storm is coming. 

The verb occur has one particular meaning that causes it to act as an impersonal noun: when something comes to mind. 

It occurred to them too late that the whole thing was a scam. 

Be careful not to confuse impersonal verbs with their noun forms. For example, the impersonal verb snow can also be used as a noun, in this case the mass noun snow. Although spelled the same, the verb snow functions very differently than the noun snow, so you’ll have to consider the context to tell the difference.  

Why are they called weather verbs?

Impersonal verbs are often called “weather verbs” or “meteorological verbs” because, simply, we use them to talk about the weather. Most impersonal verbs are directly linked to weather, such as rain, storm, snow, and thunder. 

Some weather verbs are not always impersonal and have other meanings unrelated to the weather. For example, pour can be used to talk about moving liquids, and in this case it is not impersonal and requires a standard subject. 

The scientist poured the acid into a safe container. 

However, when the meaning of pour is “to rain heavily,” pour becomes an impersonal verb. 

It’s pouring outside, so I’m taking an umbrella. 

What is valency?

In grammar, the valency or valence of a verb refers to how many elements in a sentence depend on that verb. Let’s look at transitive and intransitive verbs as an example. With an intransitive verb like sleep, only the subject is connected to the verb, so the verb has a valency of one. With a transitive verb like give, both the subject and the direct object are connected to the verb, so the verb has a valency of two, and when there’s also an indirect object, it has a valency of three. 

Impersonal verbs, however, have a valency of zero. That’s what makes them special. The only reason they take a subject at all is because English grammar rules require it.

Writing with impersonal verbs

Aside from their subject, impersonal verbs work like every other verb. You can still use impersonal verbs in different tenses, like the present perfect or future continuous, and you can use them with modal verbs, like can or might. Just look at these impersonal verbs examples below: 

It snows all the time here. 

It has snowed every day this week.

It will be snowing all month. 

It can snow as long as the temperature stays cold.  

As you can see from these examples, impersonal verbs use the third-person singular conjugation to match the subject it, no matter the tense, even when used with the contraction it’s. 

It’s snowing outside. (It is snowing outside.) 

There is only one exception to this rule, which we will address below. 

As mentioned above, some normal verbs can act impersonal depending on their usage. These include some irregular verbs or expressions that use irregular verbs, such as the idiom go without saying or the verb get when used to describe the weather or general conditions. Even when acting as impersonal verbs, irregular verbs still use their same unique conjugations. 

It goes without saying that smoking is dangerous. 

I thought it went without saying, but I guess not. 

In summer it gets dark in the late evening. 

Why has it gotten dark already?

While nearly all impersonal verbs use the impersonal pronoun it as their subject, there’s one common impersonal verb phrase that doesn’t. The impersonal verb phrase they say uses the impersonal pronoun they instead of it. This phrase refers to common knowledge or popular adages, so in this case, they doesn’t actually refer to anyone or any group in particular. 

They say all that glitters is not gold. 

They say spring is a time of new beginnings. 

Note that with the impersonal pronoun they, the verb takes the third-person plural conjugation rather than the third-person singular conjugation that all other impersonal verbs take.

Impersonal verbs examples

Luckily, there aren’t many impersonal verbs, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble using them. Here’s an impersonal verbs list, featuring the most common ones in English. Words and phrases with asterisks mean that they are not always impersonal, depending on the meaning. 

• be*
• blizzard
• come to*
• darken*
• drizzle*
• get*
• go without saying*
• hail*
• happen*
• look like*
• occur*
• pour*
• rain
• say*
• sleet
• snow
• storm
• thunder

Impersonal verbs FAQs 

What are impersonal verbs?

Impersonal verbs are verbs that do not use a specific subject, but instead use the impersonal pronoun it as a generic subject. 

How do impersonal verbs work in English vs. other languages?

Because English sentences almost always require a subject, impersonal verbs must use a generic subject, like the impersonal pronoun it. In some other languages, subjects are optional, so this rule does not apply. 

Why are they sometimes called weather verbs? 

Impersonal verbs are often called “weather verbs” or “meteorological verbs” because they are used to describe the weather, such as the verbs rain, snow, storm, and thunder. Even other verbs can temporarily act as impersonal verbs when discussing the weather, such as the verb be, as in, “It is cold today.”

 

10 Varieties of Linguistic Siamese Twins

 

One of the most intriguing aspects of idiomatic phrases is their fixed nature, an aspect acknowledged in two terms for the class of idioms distinguished by the use of the conjunction and or the conjunction or between the constituent words: irreversible binomials and freezes. (They are also referred to as binomials or binomial pairs, or are identified by the colloquial expression “Siamese twins.”)

Ten sometimes overlapping variations of linguistic Siamese twins (which, because they are often clichés, should be used with caution) follow, including a category for triplets:

1. Binomials connected with and include “alive and well,” “nuts and bolts,” and “skin and bone.”

2. Binomials connected with or include “give or take,” “more or less,” and “win or lose.”

3. Binomials connected with other words include “dawn till dusk,” “front to back,” “head over heels.”

4. Binomials that contain opposites or antonyms include “days and nights,” “high or low,” and “up and down.”

5. Binomials that contain related words or synonyms include “house and home,” “leaps and bounds,” and “prim and proper.”

6. Binomials that contain alliteration include “friend or foe,” “rant and rave,” and “tried and true.”

7. Binomials that contain numbers include “four or five” -- note that the linguistic convention is to always state the lower number first (a figurative idiom is this category is “at sixes and sevens,” meaning “in a confused state”)

8. Binomials that contain similar-sounding words: “doom and gloom,” “out and about,” and “wear and tear.” This category includes rhyming slang, in which a word or phrase is slang code for a word that rhymes with the second binomial term in the phrase (even though only the first binomial term may constitute the slang) and is either random, as in minces, from “mince pies,” for eyes, or suggestive, as in trouble, from “trouble and strife,” for wife.

9. Binomials that contain exact or near repetition include “dog eat dog,” “kill or be killed,” or “neck and neck.”

10. Trinomials, which contain three terms, include “blood, sweat, and tears,” “left, right, and center,” and “win, lose, and draw.”

Take care, when using these clichés, to reproduce them correctly (unless you are deliberately -- and obviously -- distorting them for emphatic or humorous effect, as when referring to fashionably ripped jeans as “tear and wear”) so that erroneous usage does not have a negative impact on your overall message.

From: Daily Writing Tips

Three Cases of Complicated Parenthetical Punctuation

Inserting additional information into a sentence without careful consideration of sentence organization can create barriers to comprehension, especially when the parenthesis is complicated. Here are several sentences in which complex parenthetical phrases are not treated with care, followed by discussion and revision.
1. Consumers have the right to speak out or complain, and to seek compensation—payment or a replacement item—or redress—have a wrong corrected.
Here, the use of dashes to set off a pair of parenthetical phrases confuses the reader’s eye; use mirror-image parenthetical marks instead for a clearer picture of the sentence’s syntactical organization: “Consumers have the right to speak out or complain, and to seek compensation (payment or a replacement item) or redress (have a wrong corrected).”
2. They had an unwavering belief that they simply could not—or maybe more accurately stated, would not—be defeated.
Because “maybe more accurately stated” is a parenthesis within a parenthesis, a comma must precede as well as follow it: “They had an unwavering belief that they simply could not—or, maybe more accurately stated, would not—be defeated.”
3. If thorough controls are not in place, over time, as updates and changes are made to your environment, conflicts are likely to arise, posing varying levels of risk to your business and ultimately forcing you to revisit your design.
The number of commas in this sentence is excessive; when the phrase “over time” and the rest of the parenthetical phrase (ending with environment) is transposed, the comma between them becomes extraneous and the sentence structure is clearer: “If thorough controls are not in place, as updates and changes are made to your environment over time, conflicts are likely to arise, posing varying levels of risk to your business and ultimately forcing you to revisit your design.”

From: Daily Writing Tips

The word 'meme'

The word was coined by British biological theorist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Dawkins is an evolutionist. He argues that the human mind evolves in a manner similar to biological natural selection. He wanted a word similar to gene to describe the way ideas and beliefs spread and mutate.
He bases the word meme on a Greek word meaning “something imitated.”
We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation.
He gives examples:
Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation."
Here’s the definition given in the OED:
meme: A cultural element or behavioural trait whose transmission and consequent persistence in a population, although occurring by non-genetic means (esp. imitation), is considered as analogous to the inheritance of a gene.
The word meme and the idea behind it is itself a meme and has propagated a new branch of science called memetics. The new memeticists have expanded Dawkins’ original definition and are not presently in total agreement as to what exactly meme means.
Outside the scientific realm, the word meme is used to describe the replication of words, phrases, and ideas on the internet. In this context it refers to the item that “goes viral.”
Scientists are also quick to compare the meme to a virus or a parasite. I question the wisdom of this method of explaining the action of the meme in a scientific context. It fosters a negative attitude towards the word that does not apply to its sister word gene.
virus: fig. and in figurative contexts: a harmful or corrupting influence; (a form of) moral or intellectual perniciousness. Also in weakened use: a phenomenon liable to spread rapidly and pervasively. --OED
Memes, like genes, should be studied as objectively as possible. Not all genes are “good.” Not all memes are “bad.”

From: Daily Writing Tips

Abstruse vs. Obtuse

Some writers seem to be confusing obtuse with the word abstruse, as in these incorrect examples on the web:
Believe it or not, the American public wasn't always in love with Alfred Hitchcock. Because his movies were often too intelligent or obtuse, he had more fans in the film elite than he did in the general public.
Grizz tends to make Shakespeare-esque, outsider-looking-in type observations about the situations at hand, while Dot Com spouts highly intelligent, yet obtuse references that send you (or maybe just me) to Google.
Having finally struggled through Ulysses, and yes it was a struggle, I had no patience at all for FINNEGANS WAKE, which is even more obtuse. Has anyone actually read it? All of it?
I chide Brad DeLong all the time for making excuses for Greenspan’s thick, obtuse, obscurant speech.
In each of these examples, the context calls for a word that means "difficult to understand." That word is abstruse:
The mistake of using abstruse where obtuse is intended seems to be less common, but it happens:
It is really abstruse to find Avatar not grabbing anything from the Oscars. It was altogether a new theme with a lot of innovations
This movie fan seems to be reaching for obtuse, a word that means "lacking in perception, stupid."
Bottom line: Barely comprehensible language is abstruse. Stupid people are obtuse.
Note: Obtuse derives from Latin obtusus, "blunted, dull." An obtuse angle is "blunt," as opposed to being "sharp."

From: Daily Writing Tips

Mood vs. Tense

By: Maeve Maddox

From: Daily Writing Tips

Many people are not quite clear as to the difference between the grammatical terms mood and tense. For example, I’ve seen such expressions as “subjunctive tense” and “progressive mood.”

Because both tense and mood have to do with verbs, the confused terminology is understandable. Tense, however, refers to time, whereas mood refers to manner of expression.

Tense
The three possible divisions of time are past, present, and future. For each, there is a corresponding verb tense:

Present: He walks now.
Past: Yesterday he walked.
Future: Tomorrow he will walk.

Each of these tenses has a corresponding complete tense: perfect, past perfect (pluperfect), and future perfect:

Perfect: He has walked every morning since Monday.
Past Perfect: He had walked a mile by the time we joined him.
Future Perfect: By tomorrow, he will have walked twenty miles.

Each of these tenses has a continuous or progressive form:

Present Continuous: I am still walking.
Past Continuous: I was still walking when you phoned.
Future Continuous: I shall/will be walking when you reach town.
Perfect Continuous: I have been walking since early morning.
Past Perfect Continuous: I had been walking for an hour when you phoned.
Future Perfect Continuous: When you see me, I shall have been walking for six hours.

Mood
Mood is the form of the verb that shows the mode or manner in which a thought is expressed. Mood distinguishes between an assertion, a wish, or a command. The corresponding moods are: Indicative (assertion), Subjunctive (wish), and Imperative (command).

Note: Unlike some languages, English does not have an “Interrogative Mood”; questions are formed by changing word order and not by altering the verb.

The word indicative derives from Latin indicare, “to declare or state.” Indicative Mood expresses an assertion, denial, or question about something:

Assertion: I liked him very much before he did that.
Denial: He is not going to remain on my list of friends.
Question: Will you continue to see him?

The word imperative derives from Latin imperare, “to command.” Imperative Mood expresses command, prohibition, entreaty, or advice:

Command: Go thou and do likewise.
Prohibition: Stay out of Mr. MacGregor’s garden!
Entreaty: Remember us in your prayers.
Advice: Beware of the dog.

The “true subjunctive” equivalent to the Latin Optative Mood (opare, “to wish”) is rare in modern English. Examples of the “true” subjunctive: “If I were king,” “God save the Queen!”

In most contexts dealing with unreal situations, speakers used a mixed subjunctive. The use of the auxiliaries may, might, should, and would creates a mixed subjunctive in which one verb is in subjunctive and another in indicative mood:

If I should see him, I will tell him.
He came that they might have life.

According to the Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar,

the distinctive subjunctive forms are now confined to the verb be and to the third-singular forms of other verbs; they are still common in American English, while in British English they are confined to very formal styles.

In American English, the subjunctive often occurs with the following verbs:

suggest: I suggest that she refuse his offer.
demand: They are demanding that he go to London for an interview.
propose: The father proposed that his son be locked up to teach him a lesson.
insist: We all insisted that he accept treatment.

British usage tends to use should in such constructions: I suggest that she should refuse his offer.