If you scrub the floor clean, don’t you simply scrub the floor? This may seem like nitpicking, but deleting needless words from your writing will make it easier to read and understand. Your text will likely be more vivid. The adverb “very”, for example, is often used to imply a greater degree, but it’s vague. So if you run very fast, aren’t you sprinting?
These examples in our most recent list show how far you can go to get rid of superfluous words!
Eliminate:
it should be pointed out that
in the interest of being brief
basically
Reduce:
anti-government rebel forces
current state of play
spell it out in detail
within that time frame
Substitute with one word:
close proximity near
a majority of most
walk slowly and carefully tiptoe
point of view viewpoint
in light of the fact that because
run very fast sprint
Reduce to one word:
full repertoire
alternative choice
advance reservations
until such time as
if conditions are such that
it may, however, be noted that
basic fundamentals
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