Use of "it"
Use of "it"
Any rules, thoughts, limits, guidelines on using "it" in writing?
Re: Use of "it"
Oh, my friend It. Well, there's the famous rule that you don't use an apostrophe for possessive its, just the same as yours and ours. It makes me cringe when I see this grammar error on public signs.
Right: The dog tied on its ice skates.
Wrong: The dog tied on it's ice skates.
The only other thing I can think of is to refer to an object first before you use it -- I sometimes see that backwards.
Right: The dog tied on its ice skates.
Wrong: The dog tied on it's ice skates.
The only other thing I can think of is to refer to an object first before you use it -- I sometimes see that backwards.
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Re: Use of "it"
I'm not really sure what you're asking, but I know I've had critique comments about relying on it, they, or them when I should have been more specific and actually stated what the it was. Not sure if that's what you meant.
Re: Use of "it"
Stephen King wrote a book called It. And it was made into a film.
That says it all really.
That says it all really.
Annoying people since nineteen fifty-seven.
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I blog here: http://flyingtart.blogspot.com/
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Re: Use of "it"
It catches a lot of static. It is an odd little pronoun. Prescriptive grammarians insist upon an antecedent subject for it though it may come first as an anticipatory subject or object. Some require that animals be referred to as it, no personification of animals not pets by recognizing their gender identity. Others with social correctness bearings are offended by giving gender identity to nonliving things.
The Greek and Latin senses of gendered nonliving things comes from highly stratified and perhaps superstitious cultures. Womankind is associated with carrying and nuturing things. Ancient languages and modern Romance languages retain gendered identity for nonliving things. She was a fine ship is an example of a legacy feminine subject pronoun usage in modern English common at one time but fading. The Spanish word universidad is a feminine noun requiring a feminine definite article, la universidad. A university is a nuturing place. A ship carries. Etc.
Five conditions for it usage according to Webster's dictionary;
1. As a subject or direct or indirect object of a verb or object of a preposition referring to a lifeless thing or a person or an animal whose sex is unknown or disregarded or a group of individuals or things or an abstract entity.
2. As a subject of an impersonal verb that expresses a condition or action without reference to an agent.
3. As an anticipatory subject or object of a verb, to shift subject emphasis. as a direct object with little or no meaning.
4. As an implicit or explicit reference to a state of affairs or circumstances.
5. As a subject or object of a crucial or climatic point or exclamation.
One it usage not given in formal reference sources is as an adjective-pronoun as in Marlo Thomas was an It girl, often capitalized for emphasis.
English language usage dictionaries get into the ongoing nominative and objective usage debate of to be conjugates with I or me. It is I or it's me? Formal or informal register.
Rules of thumb principles about it usage is to use a proper or common noun instead as much as humanly possible and avoid frequent close proximity of its instances.
It is a fine pronoun in my sense of its usage. Like other pronouns, it has de dicto, de re, de se, and de nunca contexts; of the word, of the thing, of the self, and of the now respectively, where its meaning can encompass more than one context. Several of the it references herein have more than one context, "It is a fine pronoun," for example, where it is the subject pronoun of the verb and identifies it in the sense of a common noun as well.
It is also used to demote animacy, where a person is referred to as an it to demote a person from human status to that of animal or nonliving object beneath notice or equal station. The obverse, promoting status of animals and nonliving things by using gendered pronouns reflect personal sentiments.
The Greek and Latin senses of gendered nonliving things comes from highly stratified and perhaps superstitious cultures. Womankind is associated with carrying and nuturing things. Ancient languages and modern Romance languages retain gendered identity for nonliving things. She was a fine ship is an example of a legacy feminine subject pronoun usage in modern English common at one time but fading. The Spanish word universidad is a feminine noun requiring a feminine definite article, la universidad. A university is a nuturing place. A ship carries. Etc.
Five conditions for it usage according to Webster's dictionary;
1. As a subject or direct or indirect object of a verb or object of a preposition referring to a lifeless thing or a person or an animal whose sex is unknown or disregarded or a group of individuals or things or an abstract entity.
2. As a subject of an impersonal verb that expresses a condition or action without reference to an agent.
3. As an anticipatory subject or object of a verb, to shift subject emphasis. as a direct object with little or no meaning.
4. As an implicit or explicit reference to a state of affairs or circumstances.
5. As a subject or object of a crucial or climatic point or exclamation.
One it usage not given in formal reference sources is as an adjective-pronoun as in Marlo Thomas was an It girl, often capitalized for emphasis.
English language usage dictionaries get into the ongoing nominative and objective usage debate of to be conjugates with I or me. It is I or it's me? Formal or informal register.
Rules of thumb principles about it usage is to use a proper or common noun instead as much as humanly possible and avoid frequent close proximity of its instances.
It is a fine pronoun in my sense of its usage. Like other pronouns, it has de dicto, de re, de se, and de nunca contexts; of the word, of the thing, of the self, and of the now respectively, where its meaning can encompass more than one context. Several of the it references herein have more than one context, "It is a fine pronoun," for example, where it is the subject pronoun of the verb and identifies it in the sense of a common noun as well.
It is also used to demote animacy, where a person is referred to as an it to demote a person from human status to that of animal or nonliving object beneath notice or equal station. The obverse, promoting status of animals and nonliving things by using gendered pronouns reflect personal sentiments.
Last edited by polymath on December 11th, 2010, 1:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Use of "it"
Okay, an entire page on the word it?
We really are missing an "Ask Polymath" section on the forum.
We really are missing an "Ask Polymath" section on the forum.
Re: Use of "it"
Oh you all!! Thanks! Polymath had most of the answer I was looking for. I know how to use "it." (I think -haha!)
But, even when used appropriately, how much is too much? Sometimes "it" seems to fit. But it is an invisible word (to me) in many ways, hence this question.
But, even when used appropriately, how much is too much? Sometimes "it" seems to fit. But it is an invisible word (to me) in many ways, hence this question.
Re: Use of "it"
How much it is too much it is a subjective question. My rules of thumb is if nothing else will do and if sufficient to call undue attention to itself. Yet a hyperbole or other rhetorical construct may virtuously trump a repetition vice.
Opening of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities;
"It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/98/98-h/98-h.htm
Too much it for some readers, I'm sure, but a rhetorically artful usage in my sense of it. Alliteration at least, and artful syncrisis, where parallel clauses make comparisons and/or contrasts.
Opening of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities;
"It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/98/98-h/98-h.htm
Too much it for some readers, I'm sure, but a rhetorically artful usage in my sense of it. Alliteration at least, and artful syncrisis, where parallel clauses make comparisons and/or contrasts.
Spread the love of written word.
Re: Use of "it"
Very eloquent, Polymath. Nice insight.
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