Nixon Tapes Can Teach Us Lesson About Deleting Expletives

Concise writing has no bigger enemy than the expletive “there.”

Or, as we would more likely see it in print ...

There is no bigger enemy to concise writing than the expletive “there.”

Mose was reminded of that the other day when he spotted these sentences while he checked page proofs.

There are six tickets remaining for the luncheon Saturday at the college.
(Try, Six tickets remain for the luncheon ...)

There is a $5 cover charge.
(The cover charge is $5.)

There will be a wedding style show at 3 p.m.
(A wedding style show will begin at 3 p.m.)

Although the expletive there often starts a sentence, Mose later spotted a double dipper buried inside a sentence in an Associated Press story:

In states where there are large numbers of blacks, as in the South, there are racial divisions that make getting elected difficult.

Better: In states that have large numbers of blacks, as in the South, racial divisions make getting elected difficult.

Note how more concise and direct that sentence is without the space-wasting there.

Mose suggests that writers never begin a story with these words: There, It, It's, A or An. That practice helps to stimulate the creative juices that are important to good writing.

Want a challenge? Try writing without using them to begin any sentence. That will force you to think about your writing.

An occasional expletive there can survive a good editor, as can the expletive it (It is raining.), but  most are superfluous.

Weed them out in the self-editing process.