Sometimes we think that our authors are trying to build a firewall of words around whatever they are trying to say. That is because they use a lot of expletives. These expletives, which have nothing to do with profanity, put empty words between the reader and the content.

We are talking about what are known as expletive sentences. These are sentences that begin with there is, there are, it is or it was. Here are some examples:

It was in that room that I kept I keep my best artwork.

It is unlikely that he will win the marathon.

There are many cooks participating in the best recipe contest at the fair.

There is a tree limb blocking the street in front of my house.

That was when he became a warrior and liberated them during the battle of 1066.

Expletives are also referred to as “empty words.” They are used to manipulate sentence construction, but contribute no meaning. Often, they just make sentences hard to read. The reader is forced to look past the expletive to get to the heart of the sentence. Why do that to readers? Isn't the idea to get them to read your stuff?

Here are the sentences above with expletives deleted. See how much simpler and direct they are.

I kept I keep my best artwork in that room.

He is unlikely to win the marathon.

Many cooks are participating in the best recipe contest at the fair.

A tree limb is blocking the street in front of my house.

He became a warrior and liberated them during the battle of 1066.

We generally edit out expletive sentences in order to streamline narratives. Clients that use them habitually can drive us to expletives of the other sort.