Exorcising "There Is" From Your Writing
Welcome students, and other searchers! I am neither an English teacher nor a grammarian. "O'Hara's Recommendations" are my attempt to address the writing problems that, based on my reading of thousands of papers and tests, cause 95% of a student's writing difficulties. This page is about one of those problems--the "there is" syndrome--and a cure, "Fronting the Facts." Professor O'Hara
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Let's start by highlighting the problem in the sentence immediately below.
There is a problem that many of you students have, namely, making sentences needlessly complicated by the use of "there is," "there was," "it is," etc. at the beginning of the sentence.
Now let's fix this dreadful sentence.
Many students complicate sentences needlessly by starting with "there is."
Now several things make the first sentence dense. However, I firmly believe that when a sentence starts off on the wrong foot with a "there is" the chances of a stumbling run-on sentence go way up. Why? (1) The "there is" adds, at a minimum, three extra words to any sentence. (2) The "there is" casts the important words (subject, verb) adrift in the middle of the sentence or beyond, increasing the possibility that even more words will be needed to anchor the sentence’s meaning.
How does the "there is" add 3 needless words? Here is a simple case.
3 Words Overweight Sentence: There is a boy who plays golf.
Slim and Trim Sentence: A boy plays golf.
The "Slim and Trim" fix was simple. "There is" always requires a "that" or a "who" down the sentence, creating three needless words that add no information. Slimming most "there is" sentences is one of the easiest editing jobs. Cross out the "there is," find and cross out the "that" or the "who," and what remains is an elegant sentence.
How does the "there is" cast key information in the sentence adrift? Here is an example.
A "Where’s the Beef?" Sentence: There are, in my opinion, few things that are as important as registering to vote.
A "Here’s the Beef!" Sentence "Registering to vote is very important.
The key words/ideas in both sentences are "registering to vote" and "important." But "registering" is at the very end of the first sentence; "important" is floating in the middle. The second sentence fixes the first by getting the key information up front. Suddenly no further words are needed. The second sentence "Fronts the Facts." The more you "front the facts," the shorter your sentences will become. When you "front the facts," you may not even have to deal with editing "there is" or "there was" or "it is." They won’t appear in the first place.
Remember, get the doer and the action up front in your sentences. "There," which neither does nor acts, will disappear. Have fun.
©Professor Patrick O'Hara, MPA Program, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of NY
E-Mail Address: patohara@bellatlantic.net