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It

It is a 1927 romantic film which tells the story of a shop girl who sets her sights on the handsome owner of the store where she works, only to find her plan endangered when a reporter writes a story claiming she is an unwed mother. It stars Clara Bow, Antonio Moreno[?] and William Austin[?]. Because of this film, Bow became known as the "It" girl ("It" being a euphemism for sex appeal.)

The movie was adapted by Elinor Glyn[?], Hope Loring[?], Louis D. Lighton[?] and George Marion Jr.[?] (titles) from the novel by Glyn (who has a small role as herself in the movie.) It was directed by Clarence G. Badger[?] and Josef von Sternberg[?] (uncredited). In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.


It is the title of a horror novel by Stephen King. It is one of his best-selling books, and a favorite among his fans, though many critics have called it overly-long and uncompelling.

The novel is the story of seven friends from the fictional town of Derry, Maine, and is told with the narrative alternating between two different time periods. In the late 1950s, when they are twelve years old, the seven discover the existence of a shape-changing monster (which they call "It") and try to kill it. In the 1980s, the friends return to finish killing the monster that they thought they had killed thirty years earlier.


It is a third person, neutral, personal pronoun in the English language.

In English, pronouns such as it and its have been used to refer to babies and pets, although with the passing of the Victorian era this usage has come to be considered too impersonal, with many usage advocates arguing that it demeans a conscious being to the status of a mere thing. This use of 'it' also got bad press when various regimes used it as a rhetorical device to try and dehumanise their enemies: implying that they were little better than animals.

  • The cute little baby giggled and kicked its feet.
  • We're taking it to the vet for a checkup.

'It' is still used for idiomatic phrases such as Is it a girl or a boy?. Once the gender of the child has been established, it is then normal to switch to gender-specific pronouns.

Some people propose using 'it' in a wider sense in all the situations where a gender-neutral pronoun might be desired. The advantage of using an existing word is that the language doesn't have to change as much. The disadvantage is the possibility of causing offence. This usage of it is currently very rare, and most commentators feel that it is unlikely to catch on.



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