First You Write a Sentence.: The Elements of Reading, Writing … and Life.

by Joe Moran

Too much to be makes for wordy set-ups like what is crucial here is. These can sometimes give the reader a helpful running jump before the real subject arrives. But academic writing hides too often behind them. This is reflective of. It could be said to. It is evident from the data that. Nervous public speakers clear their throats before they start speaking, something every actor or singer knows not to do because it just inflames the vocal cords. There are and it is are a sort of textual throat-clearing that succeeds only in blocking the airways more. When joined to a relative pronoun like who or that, they can always be cut. There are three poets who have given drunken readings at our college. Three poets have given drunken readings at our college. Some writers, in an effort to paper over the problem with informality, turn it is into it’s. The only cure is to use it is less.