§ 4. The Personal Pronoun It

It refers to non-persons, that is, to animals, things and abstract notions, as in: (E.g. The room was large. Somebody had already cleaned it. We had no mutual understanding, and I wanted it badly. The dog was sitting by him. Several times it had turned and looked up at the boy).

However when speaking of pet animals, especially cats and dogs, it is usual to refer to them as he or she depending on whether they are male or female, as in (E.g. He is a very nice dog. He is my friend. He knows how I feel. It’s Pussy. She wants to go out).

§ 5. The Demonstrative Pronoun It

It indicates non-persons or certain situa­tions, mentioned in the previous context (E.g. Some were dancing, some tried to sing. A big man, bottle in hand, lay by the armchair. Clouds or smoke hung under the ceiling. Suddenly I felt sick of it all).

Besides its anaphoric use, it is also used with demonstrative force when preceding the words it points to (E.g. It’s my husband. It’s Mary. It was a red rose).

It may also have the force of a purely formal element of the sentence, as the formal subject or object devoid of any lexical meaning. Its function is to point to the real subject or object which comes after the predicate and is expressed either by an infinitive (an infinitive phrase) or by a gerund (a gerundial phrase), or else by a clause. (E.g. It was nice to stop here. It was useless trying to see him. It was clear to everybody that she was not well. May I take it that you will keep your word?)

When it refers to the predicative (or any part in this position) it selves as means of producing emphasis: the word in the predicative position becomes prominent and therefore becomes the information focus of the sentence: (E.g. It was he who did it. Именно он это сделал. (Как раз он это сделал). It was there that we met. Именно там мы встретились. (Там-то мы и встретились). It was to this room that Soames went. Именно в эту комнату пошел Соме).

§ 6. The Impersonal Pronoun It

It functions as a purely structural element -the subject of impersonal sentences describing various states of nature and environment, or things, time, measure, or distance, etc., as in (E.g. It was raining; It was cold that day; It’s spring already; It’s 10 o’clock; It’s still sixty miles to the river).

§ 7. Possessive Pronouns

They indicate possession by persons (my, mine, your, yours, their, theirs) or non-persons (its, their, theirs). They comprise two sets of forms: the conjoint forms - my, your, his, her, our, their, which always combine with nouns and premodify them as attributes and the absolute forms - mine, yours, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs, which do not combine with nouns, but function as their substitutes. Thus, they may be adjective-pronouns when used as conjoint forms and noun-pronouns when used as absolute forms. There is no absolute form corresponding to the pronoun it.

Both conjoint and absolute forms may function with reference to persons and non-persons; pointing back (with anaphorical force) and forward (with anticipatory force). (E.g. My friends are waiting for me. I liked this house and its wonderful garden. Where are the dogs? — Mine is under the table. The coat isn't mine, it’s yours. Hers was a wonderful room).

A peculiarity of the English language is that possessive pronouns, not the article, are used with reference to parts of the body, personal belongings, relatives, etc. (E.g. I raised my eyebrows. He rose up and put his hands in his small pockets. Where are you going to spend your leave? I can’t see my way ahead).