On the use of "there."
Feb. 24th, 2008 09:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agilebritI'm going to discuss one of my linguistic pet peeves right now. Those of you who have no interest in writing meta can just scroll on by. These thoughts were brought to the surface by a discussion of the Oscars with the handsome and talented ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kurukami, and the movie title "There Will Be Blood."
Which has to be, like, the lamest title ever.
Now, I freely admit, I've come up with a few clunkers in my time. My least favorite title for an original story of my own is "Guardians of Public Safety." However, if I ever put the word "there" in one of my titles, unless it's referring to an actual place? Shoot me.
Seriously, "There Will Be Blood"? It sounds like a bad zombie movie with giant spiders and vampires thrown in just for fun. It's cliche, it's tired, it's boring, and it's pretentious. Many other words can do the job of the "there" in that title, and do it better and more descriptively. What will the blood be doing? Flowing? Spattering? Running? "Blood Will Run in the Streets," while not much better, is better than that. Even if a character in the movie says this line (which I can totally picture in an Oscar-nominated film, don't get me started), "There Will Be Blood" is still a horrible title.
And this brings me to the use of "there" in prose. "There was a dog sitting in the doorway." UGH UGH UGH. NO. DON'T DO THIS. Not only does it start with the hated "there," but it's passive. "A dog sat in the doorway." Doesn't that sound better? Nine times out of ten, you can either expunge the word completely or rephrase the sentence to make it do more work and sound stronger.
The only time I'll tolerate that word at the beginning of a sentence in my own stories is in dialogue, because that's the way people actually talk. Otherwise? Horrible horrible word. I just went through the Giant Bugs fic and got rid of all but one instance, and that instance was part of a "here, there, that other place" sequence.
"It" is another one of those words. "It was raining." WHAT was raining? This doesn't tell us anything about the rain. Make your sentences work harder than that. "Rain drizzled from the sky." "Rain slashed at the ground in torrents." Don't get urple with it, but for Pete's sake, you can do better than "there" and "it."
kurukami, and the movie title "There Will Be Blood."Which has to be, like, the lamest title ever.
Now, I freely admit, I've come up with a few clunkers in my time. My least favorite title for an original story of my own is "Guardians of Public Safety." However, if I ever put the word "there" in one of my titles, unless it's referring to an actual place? Shoot me.
Seriously, "There Will Be Blood"? It sounds like a bad zombie movie with giant spiders and vampires thrown in just for fun. It's cliche, it's tired, it's boring, and it's pretentious. Many other words can do the job of the "there" in that title, and do it better and more descriptively. What will the blood be doing? Flowing? Spattering? Running? "Blood Will Run in the Streets," while not much better, is better than that. Even if a character in the movie says this line (which I can totally picture in an Oscar-nominated film, don't get me started), "There Will Be Blood" is still a horrible title.
And this brings me to the use of "there" in prose. "There was a dog sitting in the doorway." UGH UGH UGH. NO. DON'T DO THIS. Not only does it start with the hated "there," but it's passive. "A dog sat in the doorway." Doesn't that sound better? Nine times out of ten, you can either expunge the word completely or rephrase the sentence to make it do more work and sound stronger.
The only time I'll tolerate that word at the beginning of a sentence in my own stories is in dialogue, because that's the way people actually talk. Otherwise? Horrible horrible word. I just went through the Giant Bugs fic and got rid of all but one instance, and that instance was part of a "here, there, that other place" sequence.
"It" is another one of those words. "It was raining." WHAT was raining? This doesn't tell us anything about the rain. Make your sentences work harder than that. "Rain drizzled from the sky." "Rain slashed at the ground in torrents." Don't get urple with it, but for Pete's sake, you can do better than "there" and "it."
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 04:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 04:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 04:49 am (UTC)I've been in editing mode all day myself, and thus my pet fic peeves are at the top of my mind. And the word "there" is right at the top of the list.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 05:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 05:42 am (UTC)Of course, that's my peeve. And I'm certainly not saying it should be everyone's. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 05:48 am (UTC)On the use of 'there'?
Date: 2008-02-25 05:51 am (UTC)Re: On the use of 'there'?
Date: 2008-02-25 05:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 06:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 11:58 am (UTC)He holds him with his skinny hand,
`There was a ship,' quoth he.
`Hold off ! unhand me, grey-beard loon !'
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
Eftsoons. Whatta language.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 01:44 pm (UTC)'There' constructions are right behind it, in the hate parade.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-04 01:34 am (UTC)