The Fundamentals of Case Grammar:
Part 1
Part 2: The Phantom "It" of English

RLM: We've discussed Surface Structure and Deep Structure and introduced the concept of Deep Cases or Case Notions. Why don't we talk about what you call "the phantom it of English?"
Dr. JCS: Why not? Let's begin with an example.
Where is that book? It was just here!
RLM: What book?
Dr. JCS: No, that's the example:
  • Where is that book? It was just here!
Narrowing our focus to the pronoun it, we can see how pronouns function. Semantically, pronouns replace and/or restate nouns. In our example, it means book. We know that the pronoun it means the noun book because book acts as an antecedent, a semantic reference point, for it.

Now let's examine a few other English sentences that contain the pronoun it:
  • It is cold.
  • It is raining.
  • It is getting dark.
  • It is clear that we disagree.
In each instance, the pronoun it has no antecedent. Why is it there? What is the semantic function of the pronoun it? In other words, what does it "mean" in these sentences?

RLM: Nothing, really.
Dr. JCS: Correct! The answer is it means nothing in these sentences.

English grammar or its Surface Structure mapping rules require that - in order to be grammatically correct - all sentences must have a subject and a predicate.

In the examples above, the pronoun it fulfills the grammatical requirement that each English sentence have a subject. The linking verb is fulfills the other requirement - that each sentence have a predicate. The linking verb tells us that this is a present tense statement.

However - and what is important for our discussion is that - the pronoun it carries no meaning in these sentences. Thus, the pronoun serves no semantic function. This is what I call "the phantom it of English."

We can clearly see "the phantom it of English" when we translate the sentence It is cold! into Russian.

In Russian, It is cold! is simply Холодно! - a complete sentence that fulfills all of the grammatical requirements of Russian Surface Structure. The point is that Russian does not have the same surface mapping requirements as English. Russian does not require a subject for a sentence to be grammatically correct.

RLM: So "the phantom it of English" is a product of English surface mapping requirements. Once we move into another language with different surface mapping requirements, the phantom nature of it is revealed.

Dr. JCS: Exactly! The sentences Холодно! and It is cold! are semantically equivalent. They express the same Deep Structure or meaning. What is revealed in the translation process is that the Surface Structures, the ways this "thought" is expressed in Russian and in English, are different.
RLM: Thank you. Let's get back to Case Notions.


Part 1
Part 2: The Phantom "It" of English
 Part 3