There Is a House in New Orleans . . .

 . . .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 . . .”