![]() “I work at Acme Co.” means the same thing. You feel like you have to say “I currently work at Acme Co.” But you don’t. Can you believe that she doesn’t want to come with us? → Can you believe she doesn’t want to come with us?.Plus, it’s easy to cut: Literally CTRL+F your document for “that,” and cut it anywhere you can without convoluting your sentence. It rolls off the tongue when you speak, but it clutters your written sentences. I built this into my routine years ago after getting this self-editing tip from TWL’s founder Alexis Grant: Nix “that.” It’s just another way to say “different,” so that original sentence is drowning in fat. Notice the cut “several” in the third example, too. And the sentences are sharper without the redundancy. The words “types,” “segment” and “options” each imply difference, so the word is unnecessary. You have several different options for dinner.→ Each waiter serves a segment of the restaurant. Each waiter serves a different segment of the restaurant.Writers use “different” often to indicate variety, but I rarely encounter a “different” I can’t cut from a sentence without changing the sentence’s meaning. 5 words you (almost) never need in a sentenceĬut these from your writing! Here are five words you never need in a sentence. Once you commit this list to memory, they’ll jump off the page, and you won’t believe you ever deigned to include them before. Many exist, but a few grind my gears, because they show up in everything I edit. They occupy space, trip tongues and take readers down a long, winding path when a short, straight one would do. ![]() They’re the words you almost never need in a sentence. My high school English teacher called them “deadwood.” I’ve heard them called “inflation words,” “filler,” “fluff,” “clutter” and “couch potato words.” You probably have another pet name for them.
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