It的用法

　　(1)用作形式主語

　　It is difficult to translate this article. 翻譯這篇文章很難。

　　It is getting harder every day for a lazy man to get a living. 懶漢謀生是日益困難了。

　　What time would it be most convenient for me to call again? 什么時候我再給你打電話最合適?

　　It is no use going there so early. 這么早去那里沒有用。

　　It has been a great honour your coming to visit me. 你的來訪是我很大的榮幸。

　　It is strange that he did not come at all. 真奇怪，他竟還沒來。

　　It doesn't matter what you do. 什么都沒關(guān)系。

　　在上述諸例中，后置的真正主語可以取代先行it的位置，而出現(xiàn)于句首。

　　To translate this article is difficult.

　　Going there so early is no use.

　　That he did not come at all is strange.

　　上述結(jié)構(gòu)遠不如用先行it結(jié)構(gòu)普通。此外，也并非所有先行it結(jié)構(gòu)都可作上述轉(zhuǎn)換。如：

　　It seems that John is not coming after all. 似乎約翰終竟不來。

　　It happened that John was the only witness. 碰巧約翰是唯一的證人。

　　上述兩例只能轉(zhuǎn)換為：

　　John doesn't seem to be coming after all. John happened to be the only witness.

　　(2)用作形式賓語

　　I found it difficult to explain to him what happened. 我覺得向他解釋清發(fā)生了什么事很困難。

　　He thought it no use going over the subject again. 他認為再討論這個問題沒有用了。

　　They kept it quiet that he was dead. 他們對他的死保密。

　　We must make it clear to the public that something should be done to stop pollution. 我們必須使公眾明白應(yīng)該采取措施制止污染。

　　(3)注意以下幾種強調(diào)句的翻譯

　　It was Jane that/who called this morning. 是珍妮今天上午打來電話。

　　It was a parcel that she brought him. 她帶給他的是一個包裹。

　　分別強調(diào)主語、間接賓語、直接賓語、狀語，使之成為信息中心。

　　It was John that/who gave Mary a handbag at Christmas. 是約翰在圣誕節(jié)給了瑪麗一個提包。

　　It was Mary that John gave a handbag (to) at Christmas. 約翰在圣誕節(jié)是給瑪麗提包的。

　　It was a handbag that John gave Mary at Christmas. 約翰在圣誕節(jié)給瑪麗的是一個提包。

　　It was at Christmas that John gave Mary a handbag. 是在圣誕節(jié)約翰給了瑪麗一個提包。

　　It was when she was about to go to bed that the telephone rang. 是在她即將上床睡覺時電話鈴響了。

　　It was because I wanted to buy a dictionary that I went to town yesterday. 我昨天是由于想買一本詞典而進城的。

　　It was not until his father came back that Tom went to bed yesterday. 昨天湯姆是直到他父親回來才上床睡覺的。(注意句中not的位置).