LoginExpletives
In this lesson we learn about expletives, which are essential parts of a sentence that serve as placeholders without adding significant meaning. Clear explanations and practice exercises to help you learn.
What Are Expletives?
Expletives: Uses
Expletives are not completely insignificant or meaningless. They can be used to:
indicate emphasis
give a particular tone to the statement
help build the meter in verse
Common Expletives in English
In English, there are some words and phrases that are commonly used as expletives:
like
you know
so
in fact
damn it
by golly
oaths or profanities
Let's take a look at some examples:
Well, you know, we've got to start this project.
I was like, 'excuse me who are you again?'
They thought they could win and, by golly, they did!
Damn it, it's you again!
Attributive Expletives
Some expletives are attributive adjectives or adverbs that are used to indicate a strong feeling (anger, irritation, approval, excitement, etc.). These words do not add any meaning to the sentence nor are they necessary in the sentence. They are mostly profanities or swear words. For example:
You'd better pay for your bloody lunch, or I will call the cops.
The expletive 'bloody' is usually used among British speakers.
Where is my damn phone?
This festival is downright ridiculous.
"Do" as an Expletive
The verb 'do'is sometimes used as an expletive before verbs to show emphasis. In this case, 'do' does not have any meaning, it is simply there as a filler. For example:
You do look nice in that hat.
Do have another sandwich.
Negative Expletive
A negative expletive is a sentence construction that includes one or more negative words that are redundant or unnecessary. One example is the double negative construction in English, which was more commonly used in old English but can still be found in modern English in some contexts. For example:
Nobody never helped me about it.
I ain't never going back there again
Syntactic Expletive
A syntactic expletive is a pronoun that is used at the beginning of a sentence without adding any semantic meaning. These pronouns are also known as dummy subjects or pronouns. The primary purpose of these expletives is to provide a subject for the sentence and to indicate the existence of something. Common syntactic expletives of English are:
It is
There is/are
Here is/are
There is an apple tree in the backyard.
"There" as an individual word doesn't carry any meaning here, it just points to existence of something. It just has a grammatical purpose.
It is over 200 miles from London to Manchester.
"It" does not refer to anything, it can't be replaced with a noun unlike regular pronouns.
Here are some pictures of John when he was little.
There are a few things we need to discuss.
Quiz:
Which of the following sentences uses a syntactic expletive?
There are several challenges in the new project.
He does understand the rules.
I can’t believe you finished the damn project so early.
A and B
Which sentence demonstrates the use of an expletive for emphasis?
Do you want to join us for dinner?
She does her work diligently every day.
He does his chores before playing.
You do look amazing in that outfit.
Identify the expletive in each sentence.
Oh my, that looks amazing! → oh my
Where is my darn wallet? →
I can't get no sleep. →
There are many reasons to support this initiative. →
I believe she has in fact never done it. →
Match the expletive in each sentence to its correct type
Fill in the blanks with the correct type of expletive. (There is one extra option.)
are many birds in the sky today.
You
look stunning in that dress!
Where is my
jacket? I’ve searched everywhere!
I ain’t
going to that boring lecture.
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