Copywriting Power Tip: Eliminate "There are"
While in college studying for my Masters degree in English, I was fortunate to have a wonderful professor who literally beat us over the head with regard to pruning wordy copy.
She absolutely hated sentences that began with “there are.” My papers would come back with this phrase crossed out in red ink. I learned pretty quickly to not use it.
Beginning a sentence with “there are” takes away the power in a sentence and the thought being expressed ends up sounding weak.
Plus, beginning a sentence with “there are” is just plain lazy — especially if you call yourself a writer.
Next time you write something, go back through the piece and search for the “there are” constructions and eliminate them, then reconstruct your sentences. I guarantee your copy will read 100% better.
About the author: Dianna Huff
A B2B web marketing expert, Dianna helps B2B companies grow through SEO, marketing writing, and social media. A frequent speaker, Dianna has been quoted in numerous blogs, books, and articles; her client list includes large and small B2B companies across the U.S. Follow her on Twitter @diannahuff. To receive her e-course on creating great B2B marketing content, subscribe to her newsletter, The MarCom Strategist.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Three cheers for this post! This is such practical advice — I can apply it *today*! As my colleague Robert recently wrote, “You want your marketing materials to carry a wallop, right? So don’t waste words.” He might add to the list of weakling words to watch out for:
- Situation
- Process
- Facility
Thoughts?
June 25th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
My “word” was – “that”.
It was pointed out to me how many times I used “that” ina paragraph. After it was pointed out to me I started catching myself and have now pretty much eliminated any unnecessary “that” from my writing.
Great post BTW, I just started reading you today.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Mike,
Yep. “That” is another one. The same prof used to circle it as well.
The other biggie is “to be” verbs — as, is, was, were, be, been, being (and others, I think!). Rooting those out is even harder.
When I first came out of grad school, I had perfect writing. I’m afraid I’m quite sloppy now — compared to how I used to write.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Any indeterminate subject with a form of “to be” is a good target for rewriting:
* There is …
* This is …
* It is …
Be careful about omitting “that”, depending on your audience. For non-native speakers, it can be difficult to tell where a subordinate clause starts, if you leave out “that”.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
@ Janet – I agree, I still sometimes sneak one or two in where needed, but it was quite eye opening to see how often I really did use “that”.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:26 am
There are five good reasons to start a sentence with ‘There are”… but I just can’t think of them right now.