Grammar: it
Intermediate level English (B1-B2)

Very often you can use ‘It’ to start a sentence which does not have a ‘normal’ subject such as ‘He’, ‘We’, ‘The boy’, ‘Our country’ etc.Here are some simple examples of very common English sentences. If you translate them into your own language, are the sentences very different? If they are, you will need to study this area of English carefully.

It’s cold outside
It’s miles to the next town
It was so sad she couldn’t come
It’s Friday night. Let’s party!

Now try making some similar English sentences with your own ideas. Make sure to use ‘it’ as your subject.

Below are some slightly more complicated examples with ‘it’ as the subject of the sentence:

It’s said that there’s a ghost in the manor house (people say there’s a ghost)
It’s important you remember to take your passport
It’s lucky you called your brother
It doesn’t make sense to turn back now
It takes a long time to do
It’ll be embarrassing if she starts singing
It’s really worth doing this exercise

Try to listen out for sentences beginning with ‘it’ and then experiment with your own. If your language does not work in a similar way, you will benefit greatly from making the same kind of sentences to the ones above.