Dead Construction

Using as little space as necessary on the news page is essential. Not only does it allow room for more stories and advertisements to be published, but it ensures that journalists write in a concise and straightforward manner.

It's important to write sentences that have strong verbs and strong subjects. Dead constructions take these components away, making sentences longer than they need to be and taking up valuable space on the page.

Eliminating dead constructions eliminates useless clutter on the page while adding strength to sentences. Although dead constructions are hard to catch, they often begin with forms of it is and there is.  By eliminating these phrases, the power of the sentence can be switched back to the main verb of the sentence instead of the linking verb.

In the example above, a dead construction is used to start the sentence. There were should be removed from the sentence. Be removing this phrase, the power of the sentence shifts to the main verb picked. The sentence should be rewritten as follows: Ten semi-finalists picked public voting, and the public cast nearly 22,000 votes to get down to four finalists. 

The full article for this story can by found on Page 4 of the Nov. 29 issue of Joliet's Herald News.