Dead on the first word (Dead construction)

Any good writer is fully aware of the power of words. The way something is worded can make or break its meaning and the strength the sentence carries.

What less people are aware of is the fact that there are certain sentence constructions that can make a sentence dead on arrival. Such sentences organize their words in a way that causes the sentences to have less "oomph" than they otherwise would.

This type of sentence structure is called, fittingly, dead construction.

In dead construction, words called expletives take up space and add no actual value or function to the sentence. According to When Words Collide, "They not only add clutter but also often rob the sentence of its power by shifting emphasis from what could be a strong verb to a weaker construction-- a linking verb."

The most common dead construction sentences begin with forms of to be.

Here's an example from an NPR blog:

There was one big open question after researchers revealed that the iPhone keeps an unencrypted log of location data: Is there a way to turn it off?

The sentence isn't completely terrible the way it is, but the dead construction makes it a boring sentence. All it would take to make the sentence significantly stronger would be to rearrange the words a bit. Take a look:

One big open question remained after researchers revealed that the iPhone keeps an unencrypted log of location data: Is there a way to turn it off?

This gets the reader into the meat of the sentence much more quickly than in the original construction. The second part of the sentence could be made stronger also, simply by changing the wording of the question to "Can it be turned off?" 

To make your sentences stronger, cut out unnecessary words and make sure that the sentence fully capitalizes on its potential word power. You don't want your writing to be a cemetery for dead sentences!

Peralta, Eyder. "Reports: There's no way to keep iPhone data from collecting location data." NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/25/135712946/reports-theres-no-way-to-keep-iphone-from-collecting-location-data. 25 April 2011.