Dummy Pronoun
(Redirected from Expletive Pronoun)
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A Dummy Pronoun is a pronoun that is used for syntax without explicit meaning.
- AKA: Expletive Pronoun, Pleonastic Pronoun.
- Context:
- It is a Nonreferential Word.
- …
- Example(s):
- “/[It] [is obvious] that [she needs medication]." ⇒ "That she needs meditation is obvious”.
- "[There] (usually/often) is [a seat available]./" ⇒ "(usually/often) a seat is available.
- "[A seat available]" cannot be treated as an standard NP
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Idiom, Pronoun, Syntactic Expletive, Syntactic Pleonasm, Impersonal Verb.
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.
- QUOTE: Definition - A type of pronoun that is used when the sentence's syntax requires a subject but that subject doesn't exist.
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
- (Sag et al., 2003) ⇒ Ivan A. Sag, Thomas Wasow, and Emily M. Bender. (2003). “Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction, 2nd edition." CSLI Publications.
- NOTES: section 11 is on "Dummies and Idioms".