. . .they call the rising sun. . .
Do you remember ever being taught not to start a sentence with “There is . . .”? You may have been, because it just isn’t a very good way to begin a sentence. It is called an expletive construction.
Why isn’t “There is” or “There are” (or even “It is . . .”) a good way to begin a sentence?
- Weak
- Wordy
- Sometimes difficult to know whether to use a singular or plural verb
Weak:
- There is no need to read the entire article. Weak
- You do not need to read the entire article. Stronger
Redundant:
- There are many people who love the color blue. Wordy
- Many people love the color blue. Concise
Confusing. Singular or Plural?
- There are a bunch of bananas on the table?
- There is a bunch of bananas on the tab?
The subject is bunch, not bananas, so it is singular:
- A bunch of bananas is on the table
- There is a bunch of bananas on the table.
Generally, we think of the subject as being the first word in a sentence, and it often is. Subjects are either nouns or pronouns:
- Jake took the rest of the cake home. (noun subject)
- He took the rest of the cake home. (pronoun subject)
But we often (correctly) put something before the noun or pronoun: a word, a phrase, sometimes an entire clause:
- Finally, Jake took the rest of the cake home. (a word)
- After the party, Jake took the rest of the cake home. (phrase)
- Because I didn’t want to eat it, Jake took the rest of the cake home. (clause)
All of the above sentences are fine. The subject doesn’t have to come first in a sentence. But “there” is a weird way to begin a sentence. It is not a noun, it is not a pronoun, and it is not a connecting word. While it may look like it is the subject, it isn’t. The subject would be somewhere after the verb in this type of construction.
- There is a house in New Orleans . . .
- A house is there in New Orleans. House is the subject.
- There is a fly in the ointment.
- A fly is there in the ointment. Fly is the subject.
- There’s a bad moon on the rise.
- A bad moon is on the rise. Moon is the subject.
- There is a sucker born every day.
- A sucker is born every day there. Sucker is the subject.
It is truly best not to begin a sentence with There is. Usually. Here are some more examples:
- There is a pot of coffee already made. (weak)/A pot of coffee is ready and waiting for you.(better)
- There isn’t a cloud in the sky. (weak)/ The sky is cloudless. (better)
- There is a spider on the wall. (weak)/ A spider is crawling up the wall. (better)
- There is a meeting you need to attend. (weak)/ You need to attend the meeting. (better)
- There is no telling what he will do next. (weak)/ What he will do next is a mystery! (better)
- There is a pencil and a pad of paper on the table. (Weak and grammatically incorrect)/A pencil and a pad of paper are on the table.
And isn’t “The sun is shining” stronger than “It is a nice day”?
Isn’t “It has been brought to my attention that you are stealing,” too wordy when you can just say,” I heard you are stealing”?
If you were told to avoid writing sentences that start with “There is . . .” or “Here is . . .” or “It is . . .” you got good advice! Of course, when we talk we often say what comes into our minds first. We say it, and it is gone. Writing is a bit different. You can plan it, and you can change it later. And you can avoid beginning your sentences with “There is . . .”
You’re an extremely practical internet site; could not make it without ya!
Thanks!
Thank you for the great lesson, Arlene! I’m not sure I’d ever heard this called the expletive construction, but the description is fitting, since it was sometimes known to make me curse when I was a newspaper editor.
You are very welcome! I didn’t know what it was called either – but I knew it was something to avoid!
I have read your post and have found it interesting.
However, I am curious to know your position with regard to the sentences such as
1.There is an old house which is spacious to accommodate all of you.
2.There is a bank opposite the college.
Will you please throw some light on why the second of the following pair is a better one?
There is a spider on the wall. (weak)/ A spider is crawling up the wall. (better)
A spider is crawling up the wall is more active and more descriptive. It uses a more colorful and stronger verb (crawling), rather than “is.”
As far as the first two sentences:
The old house is spacious enough to accommodate all of you.OR I can show you a house that is spacious enough to accommodate all of you.
The bank is opposite the college. Or I would leave it as it is if you are telling someone where any bank is. Depends on the meaning.
I suppose I agree with you but ….I teach Business English and sometimes you can’t write in the ‘you/we’ form in reports and so I refer to the empty ‘ít’as an alternative. I also recommend the passive construction to get rid of the ”I” and ‘we’.
Thanks, Nicolette
It does depend on the sentence….sometimes the passive or the “it is” is necessary.
Thank you for the refresher course.
You are most welcome! 🙂
Hi Arlene,
Your essay struck my fancy and I was going to speak to the title being the words of a song. but also want to relay another response. My daughter conducted an archaelogical dig at a building in New Orleans that many think was that house! Although she found many rouge pots, a usual sign of a brothel, she couldn’t confirm that it was the actual place/
Thanks, Arletta.
Very interesting! I never really listened to the words of that Animals song….
The editor of a magazine I worked for loved these expletive constructions. I quit after spending years fixing her weak writing. Thanks for naming (and shaming) them. I gently reminded one writer that we’d discussed this fault, and that it was time consuming for me to fix on deadline. She told me the editor had rewritten her entire piece with “There is/are” and the other flab, danglers, and singular-plural conflicts that result. She even turned active verbs passive. On purpose. Ugh.
Thanks so much for your comment. It is a very common way to write, although not a very effective one. We speak that way, but we don’t get to back and edit that. Passive verbs, yuck on that one! And I think I will do a post on a related issue, nomininalization.
Of course, the sentence starting, “There is a house in New Orleans ….” is part of a song lyric/poem. As such, the language is often constructed in ways to maintain the rhythm of the music or word rhythm of a poem. Poetry and song lyrics are generally given wide latitude in the way thoughts are expressed, so that the (required) order created by the music and/or rhyme/meter still allows the desired thoughts to be expressed.
You are right, and make a good point.I was just using it to have cute beginning to the blog post.