Pointless prepositions: Cut them and let the main words do their job.
the story continues on to its climax
when Lincoln entered into the room
this occurred alongside of another event
throughout in the story
in the making of the movie
filling up the pipes
write out the answers
establishing of the truth
Conceptual Clutter: Don't bury key words in heavy phrases.
| Too heavy | Replace with: |
| do a study of the effects of | study the effects of |
| is indicative of | indicates |
| provides a summary of | summarizes |
| has a tendency to | tends to |
| the author is saying that | the author says |
| I will provide arguments for | I argue |
| we were able to complete | we completed |
| the process of writing | writing |
| the amount of effort required | the effort required |
| one of the main reasons why | one reason |
| the field of linguistics | linguistics |
| take into consideration | consider |
| on a regular basis | regularly |
| on the educational front | in education |
| during the month of April | in April |
| has an ability to | can |
| carried out an experiment | experimented |
Empty sentence openers: Cut them to save space.
| It is apparent, therefore, that | In regards to the matter at hand | It is obvious that |
| If you ask me | It is my belief that | It seems to me that |
| Probably | For that matter | I believe/think that |
| In other words | I’m not sure but | In my opinion |
| For all intents and purposes | For one thing | Supposedly |
| Believe it or not | Really | As a matter of fact |
Empty modifiers: Cut them to improve your tone.
| most importantly |
|
| everyone |
|
Clichés and slang: Avoid them because they are stale and vague.
hindsight is twenty-twenty time to get real see the light at the end of the in his heart of hearts breaks new ground tunnel
over and over again a different ball game doesn’t have a clue hit the nail on the head get over it only time will tell
Circumlocutions: Prefer active, concise phrasing.
mean
1. When people say science they are relating it to what happens in a laboratory.
2. The readers can relate and sympathize with the main character.
imagine
3. The viewers can relate by imagining King Kong’s feelings.
uses
4. Orwell’s ideas are related to the audience with strong examples.
5. The author<’s> provides several convincing statements which make her arguments
<are> a persuasive one.
Winn’s definition of
6. The definition used here to describe addiction applies to t.v. watching.
addicts
7. Drug addiction is an addiction which enables the user to lead a damaged life.
8. In a previous study (Ji-Dong Gu et al <1999>) it was shown that the pigment forming
eubacterium, Voesella indigofera, is sensitive to hexavalent chromium.
Some
9. There have been findings of certain Stapholococcus Areus strains that are
resistant to all known antimicrobials.