Thirty-Seven Words or Phrases You Should Eliminate from Your Writing
The best writers know how to write clear, concise sentences and how to trim long ones to readable lengths. They also know how to vary long and short sentences while keeping them free of unnecessary words and redundancies.
Here are thirty-seven words and phrases to cut to make your writing more concise. A good editor will likely trim them for you because they’re unnecessary or overused, but you’ll look like more of a pro if you do it yourself. Eventually you’ll find you need to remove them less often, because they stop showing up as much, even in a messy first draft.
Words to watch
Up / down. Often not needed. “The toddler fell down to the ground” works better as “The toddler fell to the ground.” “He stood up and walked to the podium” is cleaner as “He stood and walked to the podium.”
Just. One of the hardest for me to drop, but it “just” isn’t necessary. See? Better as “it isn’t necessary.”
Literally, completely, totally. These add nothing. “She was totally exhausted” says the same as “She was exhausted.” The word “exhausted” already tells us what we need to know.
That. If a sentence makes sense without it, remove it. “Thirteen Words That You Should Eliminate” reads better as “Thirteen Words You Should Eliminate.”
Then. Usually an unnecessary storytelling word. “Then she raced to the neighbor’s house to call for help” is stronger as “She raced to the neighbor’s house to call for help.”
Began / start. “I started to clean the house” is stronger as “I cleaned the house.”
Quite / rather. The class isn’t “quite boring,” it’s “boring.” He isn’t “rather incompetent,” he’s “incompetent.”
The. Surprised? In some cases it’s not needed. “The wind knocked out the power all over town” reads better as “Wind knocked out power all over town.”
Some redundant phrases
Armed gunman, protest against, final outcome, added bonus, end result, 12 noon, plan ahead, past history, completely destroyed, null and void, each and every, close scrutiny, basic fundamentals, assemble together, ask a question, unexpected surprise, unintended mistake, same identical, exact same, revert back, written down.
Meaningless phrases
“At the end of the day,” “it is of utmost importance,” “at this point in time.”
Filter words
Eliminate as many filter words as you can, too. I cover those in How to Eliminate Filter Words from Your Writing.