Impersonal sentences (безличные предложения)

Exercise 1. Make the sentences negative and interrogative.

1. It is cold today. 2. It is time to go home. 3. It was too late to ring them up. 4. It will be over soon. 5. It is getting dark. 6. It rained yesterday. 7. It often snows in winter. 8. It was simple to translate this article. 9. It becomes cool in September. 10. It will be difficult to solve the problem. 11. It gets warm in spring. 12. It became dark at six o’clock. 13. It is getting difficult to go. 14. It has become cold. 15. It was strange to see him here. 16. It will freeze in January.

Exercise 2. Rewrite the sentences in the Past and Future Simple tenses. Use the appropriate adverbs.

1. It is nice to spend the weekend in the country. 2. It is difficult for them to understand her. 3. It doesn’t often rain in spring. 4. Does it snow in winter? 5. It gets hot. 6. It is necessary to get in touch with him. 7. It is amusing to watch it. 8. When does it become cool? 9. It isn’t far to the station. 10. It sounds strange.

Exercise 3. Translate the sentences.

1. It was hard for her to hear such words. 2. It was useless trying to help him. 3. It will be difficult for me to do this job alone. 4. It is important for us to know the timetable on Monday. 5. It was high time to arrive home. 6. It is getting cold in the room. 7. It will be nice for you to see them again. 8. It often snowed in January. 9. It has been raining again. 10. It will drizzle in autumn. 11. It is easy for them to cross the river. 12. It was very interesting to watch this device in action. 13. It is necessary to continue the experiment. 14. It doesn’t thaw here in April. 15. Was it nice at the party yesterday? 16. It is winter now. 17. It is light in the street. 18. It’s hot. 19. It was 5 o’clock an hour ago.

Exercise 4. Complete the sentences. Use the impersonal sentences in your answers.

Example: You should put on a coat.

- It is cold in the street.

1. You should put on a coat (cold). 2. Children shouldn’t go out today (wet). 3. It is 12 o’clock. You are going to bed (late). 4. You came into the room and switched on the light (dark). 5. Open the window! (stuffy). 6. Read the article! (interesting to know). 7. Don’t forget to take your umbrella with you! (to rain). 8. I don’t go to college today (Sunday). 9. Close the door, please (noisy). 10. Don’t switch on the lamp (still light). 11. Hurry up! (late).

Exercise5. Change the sentences according to the model.

Example: I got to my office. (an hour)

It took me an hour to get to my office.

1. She does her room (an hour). 2. He reached the station (fifteen minutes). 3. They will pack their things (half an hour). 4. Mother cooks a substantial breakfast (twenty minutes). 5. He has a shower (twenty minutes). 6. My friends will re-paper their flat (a week). 7. You completed the work (a month). 8. We will go shopping (two hours). 9. The author wrote the book (a year). 10. She wrote a report (a fortnight).

Exercise 6. Translate the sentences with the emphatic construction.

1. It is here that the fire broke out. 2. Facts give the science its substance, but it is the theory that provides its strength. 3. It was Einstein who provided a new conception of time, space and gravitation. 4. It was you who did it. 5. It was in 1869 that Mendeleyev arranged the elements in the form of a table. 6. It is agricultural production that has increased greatly. 7. It is electricity that is widely used both in economy and everyday life. 8. It is not only the sound of the voice that travels over the wire when we talk over the telephone. 9. It was in 1957 that the first man-made satellite was launched in our country. 10. It is due to close cooperation of physics and chemists that new physical measurements were developed. 11. It was Yablochkov who was the pioneer of electrical engineering in Russia. 12. It was this scientist who played an essential part in solving this problem.

Exercise 7. Change the sentences according to the model.

Example: He told me about it.

It was he who told me about it.

1. Mother told me this herself. 2. The storm began at eight o’clock. 3. She told me this only yesterday. 4. We discussed all the details in the garden. 5. The dog attacked him without any provocation. 6. We noticed this only in the morning. 7. They buried the papers under one of the tree. 8. She likes you best. 9. I saw him for the first time only yesterday. 10. That boy started the fight. 11. The worst part of the storm began in the second half of the day.

Exercise 8. Find the Russian equivalents to the following proverbs.

1. It is never too late to learn. 2. It is easier to pull down than to build. 3. It is easy to be wise after the event. 4. It is no use crying over spilt milk.