Romanic, Germanic and Oriental languages
Published 2017-04-24
Keywords
- desemantization,
- impersonal sentence,
- formal subject,
- indicative it,
- introductory it
- emphatic it ...More
Abstract
The article deals with the formation of the desemanticized it in the Middle English period. The concept of desemanticized it and the process of transition of impersonal verbs into personal constructions are defined. The semantic functions of the formal subject in the sentence are determined and the quantitative characteristics of the use of it that performs these functions are established.