formal subject; dummy subject
A grammatical term for a subject that has no real referent, such as 'it' in 'It is raining' or 'there' in 'There is a book on the table'. Used in linguistics and language teaching.
The 'It' in 'It is raining.' is a formal subject.
Constructions with a formal subject are rarely seen in Japanese.
Refers to a formal object (e.g., 'it' in 'I find it difficult'), while 形式主語 is a formal subject.
Compound of 形式 (form, formality) and 主語 (subject). A calque from English 'formal subject' or similar Western grammatical terminology.