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Streamline Your Writing by Eliminating These 10 Useless Words and Phrases

Your Writing Will be Stronger for it

By Cheyenne LeoPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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Weak writing is the bane of any content marketer’s existence. The average reader decides within eight seconds whether to continue reading or click away. Someone who is irritated by a piece of writing isn’t going to continue reading to get to your product. You can have fantastic marketing, a beautiful website with perfect SEO, and your project will still fail if the writing isn’t up to par.

One of the best ways to strengthen your writing is to eliminate unnecessary words. Extra words in your copy make it seem long, vapid, and boring. There are many words or sayings out there that could be on this list, but I’ve busted it down to just 10 of the most commonly useless utterances I see when working as an Editor. Try eliminating them from your work, and see how much stronger your work can be.

1) Very

"Very" is just about the laziest word in the English language. There is almost no situation where the use of the word very is acceptable, except for when you are lamenting at its uselessness. Instead of saying very hungry, you could say famished. Instead of saying very angry, you could say infuriated. If you are in a situation where you want a modifier, you could use extremely, exceedingly, exceptionally, tremendously, or vastly, depending on the sentence in which it will be used. The same can be said of the word really, which infuriates me to the point that it does not even merit its own section in this list.

2) Absolutely

There are very few situations where you truly need to use "absolutely." It can be used in dialogue because it’s a common utterance in the English language; but past that, there is not much need for it. Absolutely right can simply be written as right, because the concept of right is absolute on its own. You could also get the same effect as using absolutely by using more powerful words like utterly, perfectly, entirely, wholly, thoroughly, or unreservedly.

3) Completely

"Completely" is used almost as often as absolutely and is always as wrong. Completely filled can just be filled, completely empty can just be empty, completely lost can just be lost, and no one ever needs to do anything quite completely. You can use totally, perfectly, thoroughly, altogether, or downright if you need to put anything at all. In most situations, the word in any form can just be left off and the work will be better for it.

4) All of

When used to refer to a group of people, “all of” is better left out of the work. For example, if you were to say, “all of the kids loved the balloons,” you should really say “the kids loved the balloons.” There is no replacement needed. If you were to say, “all of the guests liked the dinner,” you should just say, “everyone liked the dinner,” and leave it at that.

5) Big

"Big" is one of the weakest adjectives anyone can use. Be specific—how big is it? Or, you can simply use a better word. Vast, huge, immense, enormous, extensive, and colossal are all excellent choices. For example, I would personally refer to Godzilla as massive. There are so many alternative and better words to be used, there is really no excuse to use big, ever.

6) Nice

The use of the word "nice" was banned in my elementary school, and for good reason. If you wish to write and speak effectively, you should work to improve your vocabulary all the time—and catch all words like “nice” do no one any favors. Barely anything is ever simply nice. People are kind, generous, patient, beautiful, loving, and humbling. The scenery is breathtaking, heart-stopping, gorgeous, or marvelous. Food is enjoyable, wonderful, delicious, or satisfying. Always reach for the better word and your work will be better every time.

7) Put off

"Put off" is as useless as very. You can use postpone, delay, or stall, but you should never use put off.

8) As far as I’m concerned/In my Opinion.

Every time someone uses one of these phrases, they’re either hedging around an issue like a coward or trying to kiss someone’s behind. Either way, the use of these phrases weakens the work and repels most readers. Don’t hedge—state your fact. Stand behind what you believe in and don’t act as if you doubt yourself. And keep the ass-kissing behind closed doors. That’s just embarrassing.

9) Serious Danger.

"Serious Danger." What other kinds of danger are there? You don’t find yourself in danger that’s not so bad, really, so why does the word serious need to be brought into it? If you are in danger, it is already serious, and so including the phrase is simply extraneous.

10) You’re going to

When someone uses the phrase "You’re going to," it’s usually because they need to hit a word count. Most people, when speaking, use “you’ll” because it’s much less clunky. It can be used sometimes in dialogue, usually in an argument. As in, “you’re seriously going to do this to me?” but it isn’t usually used in any other way, so don’t pop it into your writing. It will seem unnatural and weigh your work down.

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About the Creator

Cheyenne Leo

Hi! I’m 27 years old, I live in rural Canada and I make my living as a Content and Copy Writer. I love writing (of course), reading, cooking and most of all- Science.

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