CONTENTS FEATURE: Take a lesson from Watergate: delete your expletives GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn up to $500 FEATURE: Take a lesson from the Watergate scandal: delete your expletives      Writers who are working hurriedly may tend to spew out sentences laden with expletives. You've probably done it, without even realizing it.      It's not profanity we're discussing, but another denotation of the word "expletive" that means a word or phrase inserted to substitute for the true subject or object of a verb in a sentence.      The previous sentence contains an expletive. An expletive is an insignificant or superfluous word or phrase that does not contribute any meaning to a statement. The contraction "it's" (it is) is a "syntactic expletive" that occupies the position in the sentence normally reserved for the subject. The true subject of the sentence is the pronoun "we," which is in this case packaged in the form of another contraction, "we're" (we are). Expletives are not ungrammatical, but they are inelegant. Expletives clutter sentence with unnecessary words. A skillful editor would untangle the sentence to read: "We're not discussing profanity, but rather another denotation of the word...."      There are three other names for syntactic expletives. They also are known as "dummy subjects," "empty subjects" or "anticipatory subjects" because the reader must anticipate identification of the true subject further in the sentence.      The first sentence in the preceding paragraph contains another expletive: the opening phrase "there are." Strip it away to yield a leaner, clearer sentence: "Syntactic expletives are known by three other names."      The word "there" ordinarily is an adverb that is intended to identify location (as in "the book is over there"). When used in the expletive sense, the expression "there is" acts as a pronoun, however — filling in for the as-yet unnamed sentence subject or direct object.      The phrase "there are" is not only clumsy, but also illogical when it's used to indicate the absence of people or objects. Consider this sentence: "There were three commissioners who did not show up at last night's meeting." No, they weren't "there." Three commissioners were ABSENT FROM the meeting.      In addition, subject-verb disagreements frequently occur in sentences in which the expletive contraction "there's" is used. Here's an example: "There's only six weeks left until the new ordinance takes effect." The true subject in that sentence is "weeks"; that's a plural noun, with which the singular-form verb "is" (there's) disagrees. At the very least, the sentence should be revised to read, "There ARE only six weeksŠ." Consider these two improved versions: "only six weeks remain until the new ordinance will take effect" or "the new ordinance will take effect only six weeks from now."      The word "expletive" is derived from a Latin word meaning "to fill" or "to fill out." The connotation of profanity overcame the broader definition of the word "expletive" in the spring of 1974, during the Watergate presidential scandal. In response to pressure by the House Judiciary Committee, President Richard Nixon reluctantly released printed transcripts of 46 conversations that had been recorded using hidden microphones in the Oval Office and the Cabinet Chamber. The conversations were laced with profanities, which White House staffers omitted in the written transcriptions and famously replaced with the bracketed phrase "[expletive deleted]."      Profane words, when used typically as interjections, add nothing to the content of sentences.      "These cans of motor oil are of no damned use to me anymore. I sold my car last month," Warren said.      Used in that sense, the word "damned" is an expletive because it is meaningless in the context of the statement. Its removal improves cohesion of the sentence: "These bottles of motor oil are of no use to me anymore."      Dummy subjects are not always inferior. They have no reasonable alternatives in certain expressions pertaining to weather - for example: "It's hot outside." The pronoun "it" substitutes for an unnamed subject - the air temperature, which is measured in degrees. A statement that "the outside air temperature is high" is grammatically correct, but boxy. "It's raining" is another example. While the subject is unnamed, the meaning of the statement is well understood. You could say "rain is now falling," but most people might find that phrasing too poetic.      People often use dummy subjects when speaking because they tend to begin sentences before they have determined the grammatical subject. That's excusable during animated conversation, but inadvisable in formal writing.      Unrestrained reliance on dummy subjects is a glaring symptom of foggy writing. Desperate writers may even double up on expletives within the same sentence, as a Web site focusing on immigration reform demonstrates in this statement: "IT IS also clear that THERE IS an active effort by the Mexican government to organize Mexicans living in the United States to demand political rights and to influence their activities towards furthering the political objectives of Mexico."      The flaws in that poorly written sentence include failure to identify TO WHOM that allegation is clear or WHERE the active effort is taking place — as well as the distinction between an ordinary effort and an "active" one.      If you find yourself tempted to begin a sentence with an expletive, pause; try to determine the actual subject, and rephrase the sentence accordingly. INSTEAD OF: "It's two miles from here to the grocery store." TRY: "The grocery store is two miles from here." INSTEAD OF: "There will be more public meetings before the general management plan is finalized." TRY: "More public meetings will be held before the general management plan is completed." INSTEAD OF: "It would be helpful if you would set the table." TRY: "Could you help me by setting the table?" INSTEAD OF: "After meeting Karen's cranky husband, it was easy to understand why she volunteers for so many out-of-town assignments." TRY: "After meeting Karen's cranky husband, I easily understood why she volunteers for so many out-of-town assignments." INSTEAD OF: "Our own courses are usually not offered in the summer, but there are courses in other divisions of the university which students can take for master's degree credit." TRY: "Our own courses rarely are offered in the summer, but students can take courses in other divisions of the university for master's degree credit." INSTEAD OF: "It is not recommended to cook a turkey from the frozen state in an oven cooking bag. It is unsafe to open the bag to remove the giblets during cooking because scalding may occur." TRY: "Cooking a frozen turkey in an oven cooking bag is inadvisable. You could be scalded if you open the bag to remove the giblets during cooking." INSTEAD OF: "It would be nice if our neighbor would repair his noisy truck." TRY: "I would like our neighbor to repair his noisy truck." INSTEAD OF: "It's true that tortoises routinely live to 100 years of age." TRY: "Tortoises routinely live to 100 years of age." [Expletives deleted.] GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions 1. Chris wrote:      "I'm doing a CD review. Listed on the CD after one of the musician's names is the word 'percussions.' Is this a proper word and/or the proper usage of the word? I've always thought that 'percussion' was an irregular noun and its own plural." The grammar coach replies:      The noun "percussion" is the act of beating or striking a musical instrument; it also refers to the instruments that form the percussion section of a band or orchestra. Its derivation is the verb "percuss," which means to strike or tap firmly (as in "the doctor percussed the patient's chest"). It is commonly used adjectivally, as in "the band has a five-member percussion section" ("percussion" is modifying "section").      Some people might assert that the noun "percussion" has a legitimate plural form; for example, a doctor who performed such examinations on two areas of a patient's body may claim to have performed "two percussions." Likewise, two beats on a drum conceivably could be considered two percussions, although the likelihood of anyone using that terminology is slim. (We did find a surprisingly large number of Web sites, however, that encouraged readers to avoid danger by taking "safety percussions." Either the writers were unfamiliar with the proper pronunciation and spelling of "precautions," or we inadvertently stumbled upon sites for people who enjoy submitting to flagellation.)      As a noun, the word "percussion" is most commonly used to describe a CLASSIFICATION of musical accompaniment rather than specific instruments — "he plays percussion." If reference is made to a specific musician, the word "percussion" typically is used adjectivally — "she plays percussion instruments." More often, that notion would be expressed using a different noun: "she is a percussionist."      And that's how we'd recommend credits on the CD you're reviewing: "Gene Krupa, percussionist" or "Gene Krupa, percussion." 2. Jen wrote:      "When typing a letter, after the greeting 'Dear Bob' should there be a comma or a colon following the name?" The grammar coach replies:      In her 1922 book Etiquette, Emily Post advocated use of the colon in the salutation of a business letter (as in Dear Bob: or Dear Mr. Keeshan:), a convention that stands to this day. She said the colon also should be used in writing informal notes to acquaintances; she condemned use of the familiar greeting "hello" (which she considered vulgar) among all but the closest friends, but that protocol has been relaxed in the intervening decades. The Random House Handbook and other grammar and correspondence guides permit a comma in place of a colon in the salutation of a letter addressed to a friend (as in Dear Bob,).      Emily post surely would have condemned the use of "hi," "hey," "howdy," "yo," or any other colloquialism as a greeting.      These days, many people might consider use of "Dear" in a salutation — with either a colon or a comma — to be formal. 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