An expletive is a word or phrase inserted into a sentence that is not needed to express the basic meaning of the sentence. It is regarded as semantically null or a placeholder. Expletives are not insignificant or meaningless in all senses; they may be used to give emphasis or tone, to contribute to the meter in verse, or to indicate tense. The word "expletive" derives from the Latin word : Serving to fill out or take up space. In these examples ''in fact'' and ''indeed'' are expletives: :*The teacher was not, in fact, present. :*Indeed, the teacher was absent. In conversation the expressions ''like'' and ''you know'', when they are not meaningful, are expletives. The word ''so'', used as an introductory particle (especially when used in answer to a question), has become a common modern expletive. Oaths or profanities may be expletives, as occurs in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

: :"Yes, ''by Saint Patrick'', but there is, Horatio." :: ''Hamlet,'' act 1, scene 5, line 134 :"''Zounds'', sir, you are one of those that will not serve God if the devil bid you." ::''Othello,'' act 1, scene 1, line 109

Profanity

The word "expletive" is also commonly defined as a

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, ru ...

or curse word, apart from its grammatical function. An early example occurs in a sermon by

Isaac Barrow Isaac Barrow (October 1630 – 4 May 1677) was an English Christian theologian and mathematician who is generally given credit for his early role in the development of infinitesimal calculus; in particular, for proof of the fundamental theorem ...

published in 1741. :" … his oaths are no more than waste and insignificant words, deprecating being taken for serious, or to be understood that he meaneth anything by them, but only that he useth them as expletive phrases … to plump his speech, and fill up sentences." :: ''Sermons on Evil-speaking,''

(1741) Not all profanities are grammatical expletives (and vice versa). For example, in the sentence, "The bloody thing is shit, hey": * "Bloody", as an attributive

adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...

, is an optional constituent of the sentence (thus not an expletive in the syntactical sense) and is a profanity. * "Shit" is necessary to the sentence, but it is a profanity. * "Hey" is not a profanity, but it is unnecessary.

"Expletive deleted"

The popularity of the phrase "expletive deleted" derives from the

Watergate hearings The Senate Watergate Committee, known officially as the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, was a special committee established by the United States Senate, , in 1973, to investigate the Watergate scandal, with the power to inv ...

in the United States in the 1970s, where the phrase was used to replace profanity that occurred in the transcripts of conversations that were recorded in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 ...

"Do" as an expletive

At the start of the modern English era, the use of the word "do" as an expletive came into fashion with no fixed principle guiding it. It began to appear often in phrases such as "they do hunt" (rather than "they hunt"), and the practice was slow to fade from use. The lingering and indiscriminate use of the expletive "do" lent a point to

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

's jibe (which contains an example of "do" as an expletive): :"While expletives their feeble aid do join :And ten low words oft creep in one dull line." ::''An Essay on Criticism'', Alexander Pope (1711)

Expletive negation

Expletive negation is a term that originated in French language studies. It refers to a sentence construction that contains one or more negations that, from a modern perspective, seem superfluous. An example is the "double-negative" in: "Nobody never lifted a finger to help her." Expletive negation is a standard usage in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

, and in

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

, as in this sentence, where, from a modern perspective, "not" and the negative marker "ne" seem to be not required: :"They moche doubted that they shold not fynde theyr counte ne tale." ::''

Golden Legend The ''Golden Legend'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...

'',

William Caxton William Caxton ( – ) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer to be the first English retailer of printed books. His parentage ...

1483

Syntactic expletive

A syntactic expletive is a term used in formal linguistic theories. It is a term for a pronoun that is used at the start of a sentence or clause when the referent is not immediately known, but an argument for the verb is syntactically required. The basic meaning of the clause is made explicit after the verb. Common forms of construction for sentences that contain a syntactic expletive begin with "it is", "here is", or "there is". The expletive serves as the grammatical subject of the independent clause that it begins. In a clause like "it is raining" the referent of the pronoun "it" is not obvious, and is the subject of discussion and alternate theories among linguists. Syntactic expletives have great significance in the study of the history of languages and cross-cultural comparisons. The term is distinct from the expletives of traditional grammar in that a syntactic expletive has a particular syntactical meaning. Simple examples of syntactic expletives are the words ''it'' and ''there'': :*It is a hammer that is needed. :*There are hammers in the toolbox. Expletive, pleonastic, or dummy subjects have been crucial to syntactic argumentation. Their lack of semantic content, and their staunch grammatical aspect provide a method to explore differences between syntax and semantics.Carey, Michelle. ''Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors.'' IBM Press, 2014 p. 163.

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