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<span>History</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-History-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle History subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-History-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Old_English" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Old_English"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>Old English</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Old_English-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Middle_English_(1066–1400s)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Middle_English_(1066–1400s)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>Middle English (1066–1400s)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Middle_English_(1066–1400s)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li 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class="vector-toc-numb">10</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">11</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><i>It</i> (pronoun)</h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in 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href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(%D8%B6%D9%85%DB%8C%D8%B1)" title="It (ضمیر) – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="It (ضمیر)" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hak mw-list-item"><a href="https://hak.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh%C3%AC" title="Khì – Hakka Chinese" lang="hak" hreflang="hak" data-title="Khì" data-language-autonym="客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî" data-language-local-name="Hakka Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mk mw-list-item"><a href="https://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%B0" title="Тоа – Macedonian" lang="mk" hreflang="mk" data-title="Тоа" data-language-autonym="Македонски" data-language-local-name="Macedonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Македонски</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple badge-Q70893996 mw-list-item" title=""><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(pronoun)" title="It (pronoun) – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="It (pronoun)" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q6091500#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected vector-tab-noicon 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<div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Singular, neuter, third-person pronoun in English</div> <p> In <a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a>, <i><b>it</b></i> is a <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_number" title="Grammatical number">singular</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_gender" title="Grammatical gender">neuter</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_person" title="Grammatical person">third-person</a> <a href="/wiki/Personal_pronoun" title="Personal pronoun">pronoun</a>. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Morphology">Morphology</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Morphology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In Modern English, <i>it</i> has only three shapes representing five word <a href="/wiki/Morphology_(linguistics)" title="Morphology (linguistics)">forms</a>:<sup id="cite_ref-:1_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ul><li><i>it</i>: the <a href="/wiki/Nominative_case" title="Nominative case">nominative</a> (subjective) and <a href="/wiki/Accusative_case" title="Accusative case">accusative</a> (objective) forms. (The accusative case is also called the "<a href="/wiki/Oblique_case" title="Oblique case">oblique</a>".<sup id="cite_ref-:0_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 146">: 146 </span></sup>)</li> <li><i>its:</i> the dependent and independent <a href="/wiki/Genitive_case" title="Genitive case">genitive</a> (possessive) forms</li> <li><i>itself</i>: the <a href="/wiki/Reflexive_pronoun" title="Reflexive pronoun">reflexive</a> form</li></ul> <p>Historically, though, the morphology is more complex. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: History"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Old_English">Old English</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Old English"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Further information: <a href="/wiki/Old_English_pronouns" class="mw-redirect" title="Old English pronouns">Old English pronouns</a>, <a href="/wiki/Proto-Germanic_pronouns" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Germanic pronouns">Proto-Germanic pronouns</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_pronouns" title="Proto-Indo-European pronouns">Proto-Indo-European pronouns</a></div><p><a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a> had a single third-person pronoun – from the <a href="/wiki/Proto-Germanic_language" title="Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic</a> <a href="/wiki/Demonstrative" title="Demonstrative">demonstrative</a> base *<i>khi</i>-, from <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language" title="Proto-Indo-European language">PIE</a> *<i>ko</i>- "this"<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> – which had a plural and three <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_gender" title="Grammatical gender">genders</a> in the singular. The modern pronoun <i>it</i> developed out of the neuter, singular. The older pronoun had the following forms: </p><table class="wikitable"> <caption>Old English, third-person pronoun<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 117">: 117 </span></sup> </caption> <tbody><tr> <th> </th> <th colspan="3">Singular </th> <th rowspan="2">Plural </th></tr> <tr> <th> </th> <th>Masculine </th> <th>Neuter </th> <th>Feminine </th></tr> <tr> <th>Nominative </th> <td><i><a href="/wiki/He_(pronoun)" title="He (pronoun)">hē</a></i> </td> <td><i>hit</i> </td> <td><i>hēo</i> </td> <td><i>hī</i>(<i>e</i>) </td></tr> <tr> <th>Accusative </th> <td><i>hine</i> </td> <td><i>hit</i> </td> <td><i>hīe</i> </td> <td><i>hī</i>(<i>e</i>) </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Dative_case" title="Dative case">Dative</a> </th> <td><i>him</i> </td> <td><i>him</i> </td> <td><i>hire</i> </td> <td><i>him</i> / <i>heom</i> </td></tr> <tr> <th>Genitive </th> <td><i>his</i> </td> <td><i>his</i> </td> <td><i>hire</i> </td> <td><i>hira</i> / <i>heora</i> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>This neuter pronoun, like the masculine and feminine ones, was used for both people and objects (inanimate or abstract). <a href="/wiki/Common_noun" class="mw-redirect" title="Common noun">Common nouns</a> in Anglo-Saxon had <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_gender" title="Grammatical gender">grammatical genders</a>, which were not necessarily the same as the gender of the person(s) referred to (though they tended to accord with the endings of the words). For instance, Old-English <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">cild</i></span> (the ancestor of "child", pronounced "chilled") is neuter, as are both <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">wæpnedcild</i></span> and <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">wifcild</i></span>, literally "male-child" and "female-child" (grammatical gender survives here; some 21st-century English speakers still use "it" with "child", see below). </p><p>The word <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">wif</i></span>, (which meant "female", ancestor of <a href="/wiki/Wife#Summary/Etymology" title="Wife">"wife" as in "fishwife"</a>), is also neuter. <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">Mann</i></span> ("Man") was grammatically male, but <a href="/wiki/Man_(word)" title="Man (word)">meant "a person", and could, like <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">cild</i></span>, be qualified with a gender</a>. <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">Wifmann</i></span> (variant <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">wimman</i></span>, ancestor of "woman") meant "female person" and was grammatically masculine, like its last element, <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">mann</i></span>, and like <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">wæpnedmann</i></span> (variant <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">wepman</i></span>, "male person").<sup id="cite_ref-concise_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-concise-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/%C3%86lfric_of_Abingdon" title="Ælfric of Abingdon">Archbishop Ælfric's</a> Latin vocabulary gives three Anglo-Saxon words for an <a href="/wiki/Intersex" title="Intersex">intersex</a> person, <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">scritta</i></span> (dialectical "skratt", grammatically masculine), <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">wæpnedwifestre</i></span> (grammatically feminine, like its last element, <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn"><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-estre#Old_English" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:-estre">-estre</a></i></span>), and <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn"><a href="/wiki/B%C3%A6ddel_and_b%C3%A6dling" title="Bæddel and bædling">bæddel</a></i></span> (grammatically masculine).<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Similarly, because <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">waru</i></span> is feminine, so are <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">landwaru</i></span> (inhabitants of a region), <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">heofonwaru</i></span> (inhabitants of heaven), and <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">helwaru</i></span> (inhabitants of hell). <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">Angelcynn</i></span> is neuter, <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language romanization"><i lang="ang-Latn">Angel<a href="/wiki/%C3%90" class="mw-redirect" title="Ð">ð</a>eod</i></span> feminine, and both mean "the <a href="/wiki/Angles_(tribe)" title="Angles (tribe)">Angles</a>, the English people". Nouns for inanimate objects and abstract concepts also had (grammatical) genders.<sup id="cite_ref-concise_5-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-concise-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Mark Twain parodied this grammatical structure (which exists in many languages like <a href="/wiki/German_language" title="German language">German</a>) by rendering it literally into modern English:<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>It is a bleak Day. Hear the Rain, how he pours, and the Hail, how he rattles; and see the Snow, how he drifts along, and oh the Mud, how deep he is! Ah the poor Fishwife, it is stuck fast in the Mire; it has dropped its Basket of Fishes; and its Hands have been cut by the Scales as it seized some of the falling Creatures; and one Scale has even got into its Eye. And it cannot get her out. It opens its Mouth to cry for Help; but if any Sound comes out of him, alas he is drowned by the raging of the Storm.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><a href="/wiki/Mark_Twain" title="Mark Twain">Mark Twain</a>, "Tale of the Fishwife and its Sad Fate", <i><a href="/wiki/The_Awful_German_Language#Gender" title="The Awful German Language">The Awful German Language</a></i> (1880)</cite></div></blockquote> <p>About half of the world's languages have gender, and there is a continuum between those with more <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_gender" title="Grammatical gender">grammatical gender</a> (based on word form, or quite arbitrary), and those with more <a href="/wiki/Natural_gender" class="mw-redirect" title="Natural gender">natural gender</a> (based on word meaning).<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The concept of natural gender was beginning to develop in Old English, occasionally conflicting with the established grammatical gender. This development was, however, mostly to take place later, in Middle English.<sup id="cite_ref-origins_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-origins-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Middle_English_(1066–1400s)"><span id="Middle_English_.281066.E2.80.931400s.29"></span>Middle English (<a href="/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England" class="mw-redirect" title="Norman conquest of England">1066</a>–1400s)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Middle English (1066–1400s)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In the 12th century, <i>it</i> started to separate and appear without an <i>h</i>. Around the same time, one case was lost, and distinct pronouns started to develop, so that by the 15th century (late <a href="/wiki/Middle_English" title="Middle English">Middle English</a>), the forms of <i>it</i> were as follows: </p> <ul><li>Nominative: (<i>h</i>)<i>it</i></li> <li>Accusative: (<i>h</i>)<i>it</i> / <i>him</i></li> <li>Genitive: <i>his</i></li> <li>Reflexive:(<i>h</i>)<i>it self.</i> Also <i>-selfe, -selve</i>(<i>n</i>)<i>, -silf, -sijlfe</i>, sometimes without a space.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <p>During the Middle English period, <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_gender" title="Grammatical gender">grammatical gender</a> was gradually replaced with <a href="/wiki/Natural_gender" class="mw-redirect" title="Natural gender">natural gender</a> in English.<sup id="cite_ref-origins_10-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-origins-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Modern_English_(a_bit_before_1550–present)"><span id="Modern_English_.28a_bit_before_1550.E2.80.93present.29"></span>Modern English (a bit before 1550–present)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Modern English (a bit before 1550–present)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Middle English gradually gave way to <a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a> in the early 16th century. The <i>hit</i> form continued well into the 16th century but had disappeared before the 17th in formal written English.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 147">: 147 </span></sup> Genitive <i>its</i> appeared in the later 16th century and had taken over by the middle of the 17th, by which time <i>it</i> had its modern form.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_2-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 148">: 148 </span></sup> "Hit" remains in some dialects in <a href="/wiki/Stress_(linguistics)" title="Stress (linguistics)">stressed</a> positions only; some dialects also use "it", not "its", as a possessive.<sup id="cite_ref-origins_hit_12-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-origins_hit-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Gender">Gender</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Gender"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><i>It</i> is considered to be neuter or impersonal/non-personal in <a href="/wiki/Gender_in_English" title="Gender in English">gender</a>. In Old English, (<i>h</i>)<i>it</i> was the neuter nominative and accusative form of <i>hē</i>. But by the 17th century, the old <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_gender" title="Grammatical gender">gender</a> system, which marked gender on <a href="/wiki/Proper_and_common_nouns" class="mw-redirect" title="Proper and common nouns">common nouns</a> and <a href="/wiki/Adjective" title="Adjective">adjectives</a>, as well as pronouns, had disappeared, leaving only pronoun marking. At the same time, a new <a href="/wiki/Relative_clause" title="Relative clause">relative</a> pronoun system was developing that eventually split between <a href="/wiki/Animate_gender" class="mw-redirect" title="Animate gender">personal</a> relative <i><a href="/wiki/Who_(pronoun)" title="Who (pronoun)">who</a></i><sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and impersonal relative <i>which</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-:1_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 1048">: 1048 </span></sup> As a result, some scholars consider <i>it</i> to belong to the impersonal gender, along with relative <i><a href="/wiki/English_relative_clauses" title="English relative clauses">which</a></i> and interrogative <i><a href="/wiki/Interrogative_word#Wh-questions" title="Interrogative word">what</a></i>.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Syntax">Syntax</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Syntax"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Functions">Functions</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Functions"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><i>It</i> can appear as a <a href="/wiki/Subject_(grammar)" title="Subject (grammar)">subject</a>, <a href="/wiki/Object_(grammar)" title="Object (grammar)">object</a>, <a href="/wiki/Determiner" title="Determiner">determiner</a> or a <a href="/wiki/Complement_(linguistics)" title="Complement (linguistics)">predicative complement</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-:1_1-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The reflexive form also appears as an <a href="/wiki/Adjunct_(grammar)" title="Adjunct (grammar)">adjunct</a>. <i>It</i> very seldom appears as a modifier. </p> <ul><li>Subject: <u><i>It'</i></u><i>s there; <u>it</u> being there; <u>its</u> being there; it allows for <u>itself</u> to be there.</i></li> <li>Object: <i>I saw <u>it</u></i>; <i>I pointed her to <u>it</u>; It connects to <u>itself</u>.</i></li> <li>Predicative complement: <i>In our attempt to fight evil, we have become <u>it</u></i>; <i>It took more than ten years it, to fully become <u>itself</u>.</i></li> <li>Determiner: <i>I touched <u>its</u> top.</i></li> <li>Adjunct: <i>It did it <u>itself</u>.</i></li> <li>Modifier: <i>They were the <u>it</u> crowd.</i></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Dummy_it">Dummy <i>it</i></h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Dummy it"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Dummy_pronoun" title="Dummy pronoun">Dummy pronoun</a></div> <p>A <a href="/wiki/Dummy_pronoun" title="Dummy pronoun">dummy pronoun</a> is one that appears only for syntactic reasons and has no semantic value. One use of <i>it</i> is as a dummy pronoun (see also <i><a href="/wiki/English_grammar#There_as_pronoun" title="English grammar">there</a></i>) as in <i>it's raining</i> or <i>it's clear that you understand</i>. </p><p> In Old English, a subject was not required in the way it is today. As the subject requirement developed, there was a need for something to fill it with verbs taking <a href="/wiki/Valency_(linguistics)" title="Valency (linguistics)">zero arguments</a>. Weather verbs such as <i>rain</i> or <i>thunder</i> were of this type, and, as the following example<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 208">: 208 </span></sup> shows, dummy <i>it</i> often took on this role.</p><blockquote><p><i>Gif on sæternesdæg <u>geðunrað</u>, þaet tacnað demena and gerefena cwealm</i> </p><p>If on saturn's-day <u>thunders</u>, that portends judges' and sheriffs' death </p><p> If <b>it</b> <u>thunders</u> on Saturday, that portends the deaths of judges and sheriffs</p></blockquote><p>But these were not the only such verbs. Most of the verbs used without a subject or with the dummy <i>it</i> belong to one of the following semantic groups:</p><blockquote> <ol><li>(a)  Events or happenings (<i>chance</i>, <i>happen</i>, <i>befall</i>, etc.)</li> <li>(b)  Seeming or appearance (<i>seem</i>, <i>think</i>, <i>become</i>, etc.)</li> <li>(c)  Sufficiency or lack (<i>lack</i>, <i>need</i>, <i>suffice</i>, etc.)</li> <li>(d)  Mental processes or states (<i>like</i>, <i>list</i>, <i>grieve</i>, <i>please</i>, <i>repent</i>, <i>rue</i>, etc.)<sup id="cite_ref-:0_2-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 250">: 250 </span></sup></li></ol> </blockquote><p>And examples still remain, such as the expression <i>suffice <b>it</b> to say</i>. </p><p>The same use of dummy <i>it</i> exists in <a href="/wiki/Cleft_sentence" title="Cleft sentence">cleft constructions</a>, such as <i>it's obvious that you were there</i>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Dependents">Dependents</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Dependents"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Pronouns rarely take <a href="/wiki/Phrase_structure_grammar#Dependency_relation" title="Phrase structure grammar">dependents</a>, but it is possible for <i>it</i> to have many of the same kind of dependents as other <a href="/wiki/Noun_phrase" title="Noun phrase">noun phrases</a>. </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Relative_clause" title="Relative clause">Relative clause</a> modifier: <i>That's not the it <u>that I meant</u></i>; <i>*That's not it <u>that I meant</u>.</i></li> <li>Determiner: <i>That's not <u>the</u> it that I meant</i>; <i>*That's not <u>the</u> it.</i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Adverbial_phrase" title="Adverbial phrase">Adverb phrase</a> external modifier: <i><u>not even</u> itself</i></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Semantics">Semantics</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Semantics"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><i>It</i> is used to <a href="/wiki/Reference" title="Reference">denote</a> an <a href="/wiki/Animacy" title="Animacy">inanimate</a> physical object, abstract concept, situation, action, characteristic, and almost any other concept or being, including, occasionally, humans. </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>You have a way with you, Bernard. I'm not sure I like <strong>it</strong>.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><a href="/wiki/Tom_Stoppard" title="Tom Stoppard">Tom Stoppard</a>, <i><a href="/wiki/Arcadia_(play)" title="Arcadia (play)">Arcadia</a></i>, 1993</cite></div></blockquote> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>The baby grunted again, and Alice looked very anxiously into <strong>its</strong> face to see what was the matter with <strong>it</strong>.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><a href="/wiki/Lewis_Carroll" title="Lewis Carroll">Lewis Carroll</a>, <i><a href="/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland" title="Alice's Adventures in Wonderland">Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</a></i> (1865)</cite></div></blockquote> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>"<strong>He</strong> looks like nobody but <strong>himself</strong>," said Mrs. Owens, firmly.<span class="nowrap"> </span>[...] It was then that<span class="nowrap"> </span>[...] the child opened <strong>its</strong> eyes wide in wakefulness. <strong>It</strong> stared around <strong>it</strong><span class="nowrap"> </span>[...]</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite>Neil Gaiman, <i>The Graveyard Book</i> (2008), p. 25.</cite></div></blockquote> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>But he [Jesus] said to them, "<strong>It</strong> is I; do not be afraid."</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite>John 6:20<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite></div></blockquote> <p><i>It</i> is usually <a href="/wiki/Definiteness" title="Definiteness">definite</a> and <a href="/wiki/Specificity_(linguistics)" title="Specificity (linguistics)">specific</a>, but <i>it</i> can also have no referent at all (See <a href="#Dummy_it">Dummy <i>it</i></a>). It can be debatable whether a particular use is a dummy <i>it</i> or not (for instance: "Who is it?"—"It's me!"). </p><p><a href="/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge" title="Samuel Taylor Coleridge">Samuel Taylor Coleridge</a> proposed using <i>it</i> in a wider sense in all the situations where a <a href="/wiki/Gender-neutral_pronoun" class="mw-redirect" title="Gender-neutral pronoun">gender-neutral pronoun</a> might be desired: </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>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,<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>a<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 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.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p></blockquote> <p>The children's author <a href="/wiki/E._Nesbit" title="E. Nesbit">E. Nesbit</a> consistently wrote in this manner, often of mixed groups of children: "Everyone got its legs kicked or its feet trodden on in the scramble to get out of the carriage."<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This usage (but in <a href="/wiki/All_caps" title="All caps">all capital letters</a>, as if an acronym) also occurs in <a href="/wiki/District_of_Columbia_Police" class="mw-redirect" title="District of Columbia Police">District of Columbia police</a> reports. </p><p>Some people use <a href="/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_languages_with_gendered_third-person_pronouns#It_as_a_gender-neutral_pronoun" title="Gender neutrality in languages with gendered third-person pronouns"><i>it</i> as a gender-neutral pronoun</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-gendercensus2021_21-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-gendercensus2021-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Pronunciation">Pronunciation</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Pronunciation"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>According to the <a href="/wiki/OED" class="mw-redirect" title="OED">OED</a>, the following pronunciations are used: </p> <table class="wikitable"> <caption> </caption> <tbody><tr> <th>Form </th> <th>IPA </th> <th>Recording </th></tr> <tr> <td><i>it</i> </td> <td>/ɪt/ </td> <td><figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><span><audio id="mwe_player_0" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="220" style="width:220px;" data-durationhint="1" data-mwtitle="En-us-it.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons" resource="/wiki/File:En-us-it.ogg"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/En-us-it.ogg" type="audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"" data-width="0" data-height="0" /><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/06/En-us-it.ogg/En-us-it.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0" /></audio></span><figcaption>female speaker with US accent</figcaption></figure> </td></tr> <tr> <td><i>its</i> </td> <td>/ɪts/ </td> <td><figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><span><audio id="mwe_player_1" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="220" style="width:220px;" data-durationhint="1" data-mwtitle="En-us-its.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons" resource="/wiki/File:En-us-its.ogg"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/En-us-its.ogg" type="audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"" data-width="0" data-height="0" /><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/43/En-us-its.ogg/En-us-its.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0" /></audio></span><figcaption>female speaker with US accent</figcaption></figure> </td></tr> <tr> <td><i>itself</i> </td> <td>(<a href="/wiki/British_English" title="British English">UK</a>)/ɪtˈsɛlf/ <p>(<a href="/wiki/American_English" title="American English">US</a>)/ᵻtˈsɛlf/ </p> </td> <td><figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><span><audio id="mwe_player_2" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="220" style="width:220px;" data-durationhint="1" data-mwtitle="En-us-itself.ogg" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons" resource="/wiki/File:En-us-itself.ogg"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/En-us-itself.ogg" type="audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"" data-width="0" data-height="0" /><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/98/En-us-itself.ogg/En-us-itself.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0" /></audio></span><figcaption>female speaker with US accent</figcaption></figure> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Popular_culture">Popular culture</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Popular culture"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Stephen_King" title="Stephen King">Stephen King</a>'s 1986 book <i><a href="/wiki/It_(novel)" title="It (novel)">It</a></i> is about a shape shifting, malevolent entity that often manifests as a <a href="/wiki/Clown" title="Clown">clown</a>.</li> <li>In games of <a href="/wiki/Tag_(game)" title="Tag (game)">tag</a>, the person trying to tag others is known as <i>it</i>.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Generic_antecedents" class="mw-redirect" title="Generic antecedents">Generic antecedents</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gender-specific_pronoun" class="mw-redirect" title="Gender-specific pronoun">Gender-specific pronoun</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/English_personal_pronouns" title="English personal pronouns">English personal pronouns</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Notes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-lower-alpha"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Homo</i> and <i>Mensch</i> are Latin and German words respectively which mean 'man' in a general sex-neutral sense, as opposed to "vir" and "Mann", which mean 'man' in the specifically masculine sense.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239543626"><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-:1-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:1_1-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_1-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_1-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFHuddlestonPullum2002" class="citation book cs1">Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). <i>The Cambridge grammar of the English language</i>. Cambridge University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Cambridge+grammar+of+the+English+language&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2002&rft.aulast=Huddleston&rft.aufirst=Rodney&rft.au=Pullum%2C+Geoffrey+K.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:0-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:0_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_2-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_2-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLass1999" class="citation book cs1">Lass, Roger, ed. (1999). <i>The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume III 1476–1776</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Cambridge+history+of+the+English+Language%3A+Volume+III+1476%E2%80%931776&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/it">"it | Origin and meaning of it by Online Etymology Dictionary"</a>. <i>www.etymonline.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-03-20</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=www.etymonline.com&rft.atitle=it+%7C+Origin+and+meaning+of+it+by+Online+Etymology+Dictionary&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.etymonline.com%2Fword%2Fit&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBlake1992" class="citation book cs1">Blake, Norman, ed. (1992). <i>The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume II 1066–1476</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Cambridge+history+of+the+English+Language%3A+Volume+II+1066%E2%80%931476&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1992&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-concise-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-concise_5-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-concise_5-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFJohn_Richard_Clark_Hall1916" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/John_Richard_Clark_Hall" title="John Richard Clark Hall">John Richard Clark Hall</a> (1916). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210830084524/http://people.uwplatt.edu/~ciesield/angd.pdf"><i>A Concise Anglo−Saxon Dictionary</i></a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> (2 ed.). CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. p. 788. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://people.uwplatt.edu/~ciesield/angd.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 30 August 2021<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">5 September</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Concise+Anglo%E2%88%92Saxon+Dictionary&rft.pages=788&rft.edition=2&rft.pub=CAMBRIDGE+UNIVERSITY+PRESS&rft.date=1916&rft.au=John+Richard+Clark+Hall&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fpeople.uwplatt.edu%2F~ciesield%2Fangd.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHuisman2008" class="citation journal cs1">Huisman, Rosemary (Jan 2008). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271446847">"Narrative sociotemporality and complementary gender roles in Anglo-Saxon society: the relevance of wifmann and wæpnedmann to a plot summary of the Old English poem Beowulf"</a>. <i>Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association</i>. <b>4</b>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+the+Australian+Early+Medieval+Association&rft.atitle=Narrative+sociotemporality+and+complementary+gender+roles+in+Anglo-Saxon+society%3A+the+relevance+of+wifmann+and+w%C3%A6pnedmann+to+a+plot+summary+of+the+Old+English+poem+Beowulf&rft.volume=4&rft.date=2008-01&rft.aulast=Huisman&rft.aufirst=Rosemary&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fpublication%2F271446847&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span> (weak source, but supports only the spelling variants given for clarity)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFWrightWülker1884" class="citation book cs1">Wright, Thomas; Wülker, Richard Paul (1884). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/anglosaxonoldeng01wriguoft"><i>Anglo-Saxon and Old English vocabularies</i></a>. London : Trübner. p. 89(PDF)/161(page number).</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Anglo-Saxon+and+Old+English+vocabularies&rft.pages=89%28PDF%29%2F161%28page+number%29&rft.pub=London+%3A+Tr%C3%BCbner&rft.date=1884&rft.aulast=Wright&rft.aufirst=Thomas&rft.au=W%C3%BClker%2C+Richard+Paul&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fanglosaxonoldeng01wriguoft&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Deutscher 2005 pp. 41–42</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFStudyIsaksen2019" class="citation web cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Study, The Centre for Advanced; Isaksen, Karoline Kvellestad (11 October 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://partner.sciencenorway.no/cas-centre-for-advanced-study-gender-language/do-we-really-need-grammatical-gender/1576053">"Do we really need grammatical gender?"</a>. <i>partner.sciencenorway.no</i> (in Norwegian Bokmål).</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=partner.sciencenorway.no&rft.atitle=Do+we+really+need+grammatical+gender%3F&rft.date=2019-10-11&rft.aulast=Study&rft.aufirst=The+Centre+for+Advanced&rft.au=Isaksen%2C+Karoline+Kvellestad&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fpartner.sciencenorway.no%2Fcas-centre-for-advanced-study-gender-language%2Fdo-we-really-need-grammatical-gender%2F1576053&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-origins-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-origins_10-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-origins_10-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAlgeoPyles2010" class="citation book cs1">Algeo, John; Pyles, Thomas (2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.margaliti.com/The%20Origins%20and%20Development%20Of%20the%20English%20Languages.pdf"><i>THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENTOF THEENGLISH LANGUAGE</i></a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> (6 ed.). pp. 91–92.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=THE+ORIGINS+AND+DEVELOPMENTOF+THEENGLISH+LANGUAGE&rft.pages=91-92&rft.edition=6&rft.date=2010&rft.aulast=Algeo&rft.aufirst=John&rft.au=Pyles%2C+Thomas&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.margaliti.com%2FThe%2520Origins%2520and%2520Development%2520Of%2520the%2520English%2520Languages.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED20905">"hit-self and hitself - Middle English Compendium"</a>. <i>quod.lib.umich.edu</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-03-20</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=quod.lib.umich.edu&rft.atitle=hit-self+and+hitself+-+Middle+English+Compendium&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fquod.lib.umich.edu%2Fm%2Fmiddle-english-dictionary%2Fdictionary%2FMED20905&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-origins_hit-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-origins_hit_12-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAlgeoPyles2010" class="citation book cs1">Algeo, John; Pyles, Thomas (2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.margaliti.com/The%20Origins%20and%20Development%20Of%20the%20English%20Languages.pdf"><i>THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENTOF THEENGLISH LANGUAGE</i></a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> (6 ed.). p. 167.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=THE+ORIGINS+AND+DEVELOPMENTOF+THEENGLISH+LANGUAGE&rft.pages=167&rft.edition=6&rft.date=2010&rft.aulast=Algeo&rft.aufirst=John&rft.au=Pyles%2C+Thomas&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.margaliti.com%2FThe%2520Origins%2520and%2520Development%2520Of%2520the%2520English%2520Languages.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED52640/track?counter=1&search_id=6097106">"who - Middle English Compendium"</a>. <i>quod.lib.umich.edu</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-03-20</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=quod.lib.umich.edu&rft.atitle=who+-+Middle+English+Compendium&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fquod.lib.umich.edu%2Fm%2Fmiddle-english-dictionary%2Fdictionary%2FMED52640%2Ftrack%3Fcounter%3D1%26search_id%3D6097106&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED52536/track?counter=2&search_id=6097106">"which - Middle English Compendium"</a>. <i>quod.lib.umich.edu</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-03-20</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=quod.lib.umich.edu&rft.atitle=which+-+Middle+English+Compendium&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fquod.lib.umich.edu%2Fm%2Fmiddle-english-dictionary%2Fdictionary%2FMED52536%2Ftrack%3Fcounter%3D2%26search_id%3D6097106&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFPaiceHusk1987" class="citation journal cs1">Paice, C. D.; Husk, G. D. (1987-06-01). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0885-2308%2887%2990003-9">"Towards the automatic recognition of anaphoric features in English text: the impersonal pronoun "it"<span class="cs1-kern-right"></span>"</a>. <i>Computer Speech & Language</i>. <b>2</b> (2): 109–132. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0885-2308%2887%2990003-9">10.1016/0885-2308(87)90003-9</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0885-2308">0885-2308</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Computer+Speech+%26+Language&rft.atitle=Towards+the+automatic+recognition+of+anaphoric+features+in+English+text%3A+the+impersonal+pronoun+%22it%22&rft.volume=2&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=109-132&rft.date=1987-06-01&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2F0885-2308%2887%2990003-9&rft.issn=0885-2308&rft.aulast=Paice&rft.aufirst=C.+D.&rft.au=Husk%2C+G.+D.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1016%2F0885-2308%252887%252990003-9&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHogg1992" class="citation book cs1">Hogg, Richard, ed. (1992). <i>The Cambridge history of the English language: Volume I The beginnings to 1066</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Cambridge+history+of+the+English+language%3A+Volume+I+The+beginnings+to+1066&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1992&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John%206:20&version=nrsv">John 6:20</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Anima Poetæ: From the Unpublished Note-Books of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge (1895), p. 190.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i><a href="/wiki/Five_Children_and_It" title="Five Children and It">Five Children and It</a></i>, p. 1.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-gendercensus2021-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-gendercensus2021_21-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://gendercensus.com/results/2021-worldwide/#pronouns">"Gender Census 2021: Worldwide Report"</a>. <i>Gender Census</i>. 1 April 2021<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">16 April</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Gender+Census&rft.atitle=Gender+Census+2021%3A+Worldwide+Report&rft.date=2021-04-01&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fgendercensus.com%2Fresults%2F2021-worldwide%2F%23pronouns&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIt+%28pronoun%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=It_(pronoun)&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1237033735">@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox{display:none!important}}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right plainlinks sistersitebox"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/40px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/60px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/80px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="512" /></span></span></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">Look up <i><b><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/it" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:it">it</a></b></i>, <i><b><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/its" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:its">its</a></b></i>, <i><b><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/itself" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:itself">itself</a></b></i>, or <i><b><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/he" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:he">he</a></b></i> in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.</div></div> </div> <ul><li>William Malone Baskervill and James Witt Sewel, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wmbaskervill/bl-wmbaskervill-grammar-syntax-pronouns.htm"><i>An English Grammar</i></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050919145544/http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wmbaskervill/bl-wmbaskervill-grammar-syntax-pronouns.htm">Archived</a> 2005-09-19 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>, 1896.</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3917316;view=1up;seq=21">On some Philological Peculiarities in the English Authorized Version of the Bible</a>. By Thomas Watts, Esq.</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bartleby.com/61/94/I0259400.html">'It'</a>, <i><a href="/wiki/The_American_Heritage_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language" title="The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language">The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language</a></i>, Fourth edition, (Boston: <a href="/wiki/Houghton_Mifflin" class="mw-redirect" title="Houghton Mifflin">Houghton Mifflin Company</a>, 2000).</li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output 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.navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Modern_English_personal_pronouns" title="Template:Modern English personal pronouns"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Modern_English_personal_pronouns" title="Template talk:Modern English personal pronouns"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Modern_English_personal_pronouns" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Modern English personal pronouns"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Modern_English_personal_pronouns" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/English_personal_pronouns" title="English personal pronouns">Modern English personal pronouns</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">standard</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/I_(pronoun)" title="I (pronoun)">I</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/He_(pronoun)" title="He (pronoun)">he</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/She_(pronoun)" title="She (pronoun)">she</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">it</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Who_(pronoun)" title="Who (pronoun)">who</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/One_(pronoun)" title="One (pronoun)">one</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/We" title="We">we</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/You" title="You">you</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/They" title="They">they</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Me_(pronoun)" class="mw-redirect" title="Me (pronoun)">me</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">non-standard</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Y%27all" title="Y'all">y'all</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ye_(pronoun)" title="Ye (pronoun)">ye</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Yinz" title="Yinz">yinz</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div><i>See also <a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a>, <a href="/wiki/English_personal_pronouns" title="English personal pronouns">English personal pronouns</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Third-person_pronoun" class="mw-redirect" title="Third-person pronoun">third-person pronouns</a></i></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="English_gender-neutral_pronouns" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:English_gender-neutral_pronouns" title="Template:English gender-neutral pronouns"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:English_gender-neutral_pronouns" title="Template talk:English gender-neutral pronouns"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:English_gender-neutral_pronouns" title="Special:EditPage/Template:English gender-neutral pronouns"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="English_gender-neutral_pronouns" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a> <a href="/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_languages_with_gendered_third-person_pronouns" title="Gender neutrality in languages with gendered third-person pronouns">gender-neutral pronouns</a></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0;background:transparent;"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/He_(pronoun)#Generic" title="He (pronoun)">generic he</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/She_(pronoun)#Generic" title="She (pronoun)">generic she</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">it</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/One_(pronoun)" title="One (pronoun)">one</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Who_(pronoun)" title="Who (pronoun)">who</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Singular_they" title="Singular they">singular they</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0;background:transparent;"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_languages_with_gendered_third-person_pronouns#Table_of_standard_and_non-standard_third-person_singular_pronouns" title="Gender neutrality in languages with gendered third-person pronouns">neologisms</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Neopronoun" title="Neopronoun">neopronouns</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Spivak_pronoun" title="Spivak pronoun">Spivak pronouns</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    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