An expletive is an expression that occupies the position of some other word, phrase, or clause without adding to the sense. The two common expletives are it and there.
It is true that Luigi missed the party, [It occupies the position of subject, but the real subject is the clause that Luigi missed the party.]
There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet. [There occupies the position of subject, but the real subject is letters.]
Although expletives can be useful in achieving emphasis or avoiding awkwardness, they often are unnecessary and create wordy sentences. (See also conciseness/wordiness.)
The expletive it is idiomatic in expressing certain ideas about time, distance, and weather.
It's raining, it's pouring.
It's a long, long way from Clare to here.
It's too late for tears.
The expletive there is idiomatic in simple statements about the existence of something, especially in narrative or descriptive passages.
Once upon a time there were twelve dancing princesses.
As this example demonstrates, an expletive inverts the usual order of subject and verb (here the subject, princesses, comes at the end of the sentence). (See also inverted sentence order, emphasis, and subordination.)
Do not begin a declarative sentence with a form of be; start the sentence with an expletive instead.
Do not confuse if and there.
Make sure that the subject (which follows the verb) agrees in number with the verb.
To test whether the verb should be singular or plural, drop the expletive and reverse the order of the subject and verb.
