Dummy Pronoun

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A Dummy Pronoun is a pronoun that is used for syntax without explicit meaning.



References

2017

  • (odlt, 2017) ⇒ The Online Dictionary of Language Termonology (ODLT): Expletive Pronoun http://www.odlt.org/ballast/expletive_pronoun.html Retrieved:2017-07-01
    • QUOTE: Definition - A type of pronoun that is used when the sentence's syntax requires a subject but that subject doesn't exist.

      Example - In the sentence It is obvious that this definition is incomplete the it is an expletive pronoun because it doesn't refer to any existing subject.

2009

  • (Wikipedia, 2009) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_pronoun
    • 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.
    • 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.

2003