It (pronoun)

This article is about the Modern English personal pronoun. For other uses, see It (disambiguation).

It (/ɪt/) is a third-person, singular neuter pronoun (subject case) in Modern English.

Usage

In addition to being used for inanimate objects and abstractions, "it" is sometimes used to refer to people.

In English, words such as it and the adjective its have been used to refer to babies and pets, although with the passing of the Victorian era this usage has come to be considered too impersonal, with many usage critics arguing that it demeans a conscious being to the status of a mere thing. This use of "it" also got bad press when various regimes used it as a rhetorical device to dehumanize their enemies, implying that they were little better than animals. The word is in common use, however, for such cases:

• The cute little baby giggled and kicked its feet.
• We're taking it to the vet for a checkup.

"It" is still used for idiomatic phrases such as Is it a girl or a boy? Once the gender of the child has been established, the speaker or writer then switches to gender-specific pronouns.

Some people propose using "it" in a wider sense in all the situations where a gender-neutral pronoun might be desired. The advantage of using an existing word is that the language does not have to change as much. The disadvantage is the possibility of causing offense. This usage of it is currently very rare, and most commentators feel that it is unlikely to catch on. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was one early advocate of this.

QUÆRE -- whether we may not, nay ought not, to use a neutral pronoun, relative or representative, to the word "Person", where it hath been used in the sense of homo, mensch, or noun of the common gender, in order to avoid particularising man or woman, or in order to express either sex indifferently? If this be incorrect in syntax, the whole use of the word Person is lost in a number of instances, or only retained by some stiff and strange position of the words, as -- "not letting the person be aware wherein offense has been given" -- instead of -- "wherein he or she has offended". In my [judgment] both the specific intention and general etymon of "Person" in such sentences fully authorise the use of it and which instead of he, she, him, her, who, whom. -- Anima Poetæ: From the Unpublished Note-Books of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge (1895), p. 190. ["Homo" and "mensch" are Latin and German words which mean `man' in a general sex-neutral sense, as opposed to "vir" and "mann", which mean `man' in the specifically masculine sense.]

One author who consistently wrote in this manner was the children's author E. Nesbit, who often wrote of mixed groups of children, and would write, e.g., "Everyone got its legs kicked or its feet trodden on in the scramble to get out of the carriage. (Five Children and It, p. 1)"

In earlier Middle English, the pronoun was hit (similar to Dutch "het" and Frisian "hit" with the same meaning), with the unaspirated it being an unaccented form. The genitive was his, with the new form its only arising by analogy in later Middle English.

The pronoun it also serves as a place-holder subject (dummy pronoun) in sentences with no identifiable actor, such as "It rained last night."

See also

• Generic antecedents
• Gender-specific pronoun
• English personal pronouns

It's are also creatures that infest the Earth. They are obviously neither male or female. There are diffenent levels of 'itness' in It's and right at the top are the Supreme It's! So far only 2 of them have been discovered, Hagrid Jerod & Patrick Hatecock! Other infamous it's include Dried-Grape, Portable-Shower, FC , SIB, ET, Ratface. L.Wrester etc. The problem is that normal human being can be infected from these nhumane beings, and transform into 'thing that must not be name\! However It's can be cured (only lucifer knows how), Flirty Potty being one example!

External links

• William Malone Baskervill and James Witt Sewel, An English Grammar, 1896.
• 'It', The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth edition, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000).

It's are also creatures that infest the Earth. They are obviously neither male or female. There are different levels of 'itness' in It's and right at the top are the Supreme It's! So far only 2 of them have been discovered, Hagrid Jerod & Patrick Hatecock! Other infamous ones include Dried-Grape, Portable-Shower, FC , SIB, ET, Ratface. Lez....Wrester etc. The problem is that normal human beings can also be infected from any communication with these inhumane beings or their 'make-believe' siblings or being within 1 metre of them and thus be transformed into 'the thing that must not be named! However It's can also be cured (only lucifer knows how),Flirty Potty being one example! Ask Rasputin's hot granddaughter for the full-forms of the It's!

PS - Sorry to say this, but if you've read this article and know any of the above-mentioned beasts then within 7 days (not including national holidays) you'll receive a phone call telling you your official 'Itname' and from then on, you'll puke whenever you look in the mirror! However if you are the 8h or 9th reader of this article you are safe!