Do you know which of the following statements are correct?
1) She has birthday today.
2) It’s her birthday today.
The correct answer is number two. Although in German you can say ,sie hat heute Geburtstag‘, in English, it’s common to say ‚it’s my birthday‘. Saying ‚She has birthday‘ could sound confusing to the listener.
Grammar point – ‚It‘ and ‚there‘ as a subjects
‚It’ can be used as a general or ‚dummy subject’. This is especially true when talking about time and weather.
Examples:
- It‘s Christmas today.
- It was my birthday yesterday.
- It‘s usually rainy in January.
- It hasn’t snowed since last month.
- It‘s cold.
‚It’ as a subject is also used to express opinions.
Form: It + to be + adjective + to infinitive/verb+ing
Examples
- It‘s great to see you again.
- It‘s exhausting working so much.
- It‘s lovely living here.
- It‘s not good to lie.
‚It’ can be used for distances.
Examples
- It‘s five miles to the nearest station.
- It‘s a short distance away.
‚There‘ can be used similarly as a dummy subject.
Examples
- There are so many rules to this game. (plural)
- There is a new message in my inbox. (singular)
- There’s no guessing what might happen next.
- There’s someone at the door.