Deadwood Constructions

Deadwood constructions are clauses that start with:

there are

or

it is [where the “it” doesn’t refer to a noun in the preceding sentence]

variations of deadwood construction include:

When possible, you should avoid such constructions for two reasons:  First, the most emphatic position in a clause is the opening position, so don’t fill that important placement with say-nothing, deadwood elements. For example:

There  were no  additional factors considered material enough to alter planning assumptions.

Why not simply eliminate the deadwood and get to the meat of the sentence:

No additional factors were material enough to alter planning assumptions.

Another example:

There is a wide variety of opinion on the value of GSEs.

The “there is” takes up a primary point of emphasis, and yet it says nothing. We must wait for the real subject of the sentence to appear. A more emphatic construction is:

Opinions vary widely on the value of GSEs.

Or

People disagree on the value of GSEs.

Of the various ways to state the basic idea, the deadwood construction is the weakest because it is less emphatic. Remember that one of the criteria for good writing is emphasis–placing the main emphasis on the main idea.

The other reason to avoid deadwood constructions is that they are wordy.  Remember that conciseness is also one of the criteria of good writing.

Consider these examples of deadwood constructions. Notice that the deadwood usually appears at the very front of the sentence:

There are indications that the rapid ascent in farm land values may be stalling.

It has been the consistent position of the FCA that the best protection for the taxpayer and the best hope for the long-term health of the Farm Credit System is adequately capitalized and soundly managed primary lenders.

It will be necessary for the bank to decrease the loans classified as adverse and reduce the number of nonaccrual loans.

There is end-of-year funding within the Agency available to use for a total PC replacement.

But the deadwood doesn’t always appear at the front of the sentence. Sometimes,  it appears after an introductory phrase:

At the direct lender association level, there were ten associations with nonaccrual loans in excess of 1.75 percent of total loans.

Deadwood constructions can occur in any clause in a sentence, so sentences with several clauses could have deadwood in clauses in the middle or at the end of the sentence:

Management did not see the benefit of preparing detailed contingency plans until actual conditions are better known but agreed it would be beneficial to enhance this aspect of the plan somewhat.

Since new desktop systems will need to perform at acceptable levels through the agency life cycle, it is necessary to purchase high-end, powerful systems with the latest technology.

Also, you can have deadwood constructions in more than one clause:

While it was too early to assess the overall impact of these changes, it was noted the ICR was already behind schedule.

Even when there are several instances of deadwood in a…oops, see how easy writing deadwood constructions can be? I meant to say, “Even when several instances of deadwood occur in a sentence,” you can usually eliminate all of them.

In the following presentation, we will review further details on deadwood construction.

Carefully review the presentation below. Core details on the above content are explained in further detail, along with relevant examples.