man with scissors

In addition to cutting individual words, the possibility of whittling down whole phrases shows the scope for making texts shorter and thus easier to read. This list from the BBC Academy, in “Writing: Fashionable, foreign and superfluous words”, includes several that, while patently obvious, bear reminding.

at this moment in time   now

by virtue of the fact that   because

In the absence of   without

made good their escape   escaped

leaves much to be desired   is poor

was of the opinion that   thought

put in an appearance   appeared

on account of the fact that   because

in conjunction with   with

placed under arrest   arrested

In the event that   if

with the exception of   except

surrounded on all sides

patently obvious

red in colour

razed to the ground

close proximity

the field of biology

collaborate together

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