People don't have the time or the attention span to read any more words than necessary. You want your readers to hear you out, understand your message, and perhaps be entertained, right? Here's a list of words to eliminate to help you write more succinctly.

1. That
It's superfluous most of the time. Open any document you've got drafted on your desktop, and find a sentence with "that" in it. Read it out loud. Now read it again without "that." If the sentence works without it, delete it. Also? Don't use "that" when you refer to people. "I have several friends that live in the neighborhood." No. No, you don't. You have friends who . Not friends that.

2. Went
I went to school. Or the store, or to church, or to a conference, to Vegas, wherever it is you're inclined to go. Instead of "went," consider drove, skated, walked, ran, flew. There are any number of ways to move from here to there. Pick one. Don't be lazy and miss the chance to add to your story.

3. Honestly
People use "honestly" to add emphasis. The problem is, the minute you tell your reader this particular statement is honest, you've implied the rest of your words were not. #Awkward

4. Absolutely
Adding this word to most sentences is redundant. Something is either necessary, or it isn't. Absolutely necessary doesn't make it more necessary. If you recommend an essential course to your new employees, it's essential. Coincidentally, the definition of essential is absolutely necessary. Chicken or egg, eh?

5. Very
Accurate adjectives don't need qualifiers. If you need to qualify it? Replace it. "Very" is intended to magnify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. What it does is makes your statement less specific. If you're very happy? Be ecstatic. If you're very sad, perhaps you're melancholy or depressed. Woebegone, even. Very sad is a lazy way of making your point. Another pitfall of using very as a modifier? It's subjective. Very cold and very tall mean different things to different people. Be specific. She's 6'3" and it's 13 degrees below freezing? These make your story better while also ensuring the reader understands the point you're making.

6. Really
Unless you're a Valley Girl, visiting from 1985, there's no need to use "really" to modify an adjective. Or a verb. Or an adverb. Pick a different word to make your point. And never repeat "really," or "very" for that matter. That's really, really bad writing.
If you are visiting from 1985? Please bring the birth certificate for my Cabbage Patch Doll on your next visit. Thanks.

7. Amazing
The word means "causing great surprise or sudden wonder." It's synonymous with wonderful, incredible, startling, marvelous, astonishing, astounding, remarkable, miraculous, surprising, mind-blowing, and staggering. You get the point, right? It's everywhere. It's in corporate slogans. It dominated the Academy Awards acceptance speeches. It's all over social media. It's discussed in pre-game shows and post-game shows.
Newsflash: If everything is amazing , nothing is.

8. Always
Absolutes lock the writer into a position, sound conceited and close-minded, and often open the door to criticism regarding inaccuracies.
Always is rarely true. Unless you're giving written commands or instruction, find another word.

9. Never
See: Always.

10. Literally
"Literally" means literal. Actually happening as stated. Without exaggeration. More often than not, when the term is used, the writer means "figuratively." Whatever is happening is being described metaphorically. No one actually "waits on pins and needles." How uncomfortable would that be?

11. Just
It's a filler word and it makes your sentence weaker, not stronger. Unless you're using it as a synonym for equitable, fair, even-handed, or impartial, don't use it at all.

12. Maybe
This makes you sound uninformed, unsure of the facts you're presenting. Regardless of the topic, do the legwork, be sure, write an informed piece. The only thing you communicate when you include these words is uncertainty.

13. Stuff
This word is casual, generic even. It serves as a placeholder for something better. If the details of the stuff aren't important enough to be included in the piece? Don't reference it at all. If you tell your reader to take your course because they'll learn a lot of stuff ? They're likely to tell you to stuff it.

14. Things
See: Stuff.

15. Irregardless
This doesn't mean what you think it means, jefe . It means regardless. It is
literally (see what I did there?) defined as: regardless. Don't use it. Save yourself the embarrassment.

Whether you're ghostwriting for your CEO, updating a corporate blog, selling a product, or finishing your doctoral thesis, you want to keep your reader engaged. These 15 words are a great place to start trimming the fat from your prose. Bonus? You’ll sound smarter.

hary158:
HUSBAND SCARCITY!!!by Maryam Habu shinga
HUSBAND SCARCITY!!!This may not be the best time for me to write on this because of misinterpretations, but I can no longer resist the push. "Husband Scarcity" has become one of the challenges faced by many young girls today. If you go to prayer houses, majority of the intentions are prayer for a life partner. And this calls for concern. Casting our minds back to the time of our mothers and grandmothers, was there really much of a"Husband Scarcity" problem? Or, maybe there were more men than women then, or there was an adequate corresponding numbers of both genders. I don't think so. Maybe then, the women had values and were prepared to build a home and not park into a built home. Then, once a young man comes of age and can at least feed himself and his wife, he goes out in search of a wife and the woman really appreciates him and helps him to build a future. What am I really trying to say? We created what we now see as "Husband Scarcity" for ourselves. Today, the reverse is the case. Ask an average girl to define her dream husband; you get things like "he has to be tall, handsome, fair, and rich, own a house at least, and be presentable" and then she adds "God fearing" in order not to sound so worldly. Then, check the number of girls around you and the number of men that meet that standard, and you will see the problem. You hear girls say, "I cannot suffer in my father's house and then go and start suffering with a man." What a wonderful dream! What if from the beginning, you have everything you want and there is no suffering, and later in the marriage, the table turns around, then comes suffering? Will you run away? No one prays for suffering, but it is good to start small and end big, than start big and end small. The problem is that the description majority of girls give of their ideal man is virtually the same. When 50 girls want the same kind of man and the man that fits what they want is just 1 man, and the man can only pick one. Then, what becomes of 49 others? They simply start lamenting of"Husband Scarcity". Another irony of our time is that it is hard, due to the face of our economy to find a man who is of marriage age who possesses all those things these ladies want, legally (except those involved in Internet fraud); even the number of those in Internet fraud is not enough to match all those searching for already made husbands. If you look around, majority of the ladies of substance, of good value and virtue, who are ready to build a home with a man who has prospects, are married and not complaining of husband scarcity. The easiest way to find a husband now, is to change your view of who a husband is. A husband is that man God made and then saw that it may be hard for him to really actualize his purpose for making him, without a help mate and then made the woman and gave to him, and he felt complete and fulfilled MARRIAGE IS NOT A POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAM. It is a mission of building the family of God here on earth. For those who see marriage as away out of poverty, it is a way into bondage. Women are HOME BUILDERS, not HOME WARMERS... DON'T CONFUSE A MAN'S PATH WITH HIS DESTINY. Where he is today, may only be a route to where God has destined him to be tomorrow. Another truth is that YOU MAY BE THE ONLY FAST MEANS TO THAT HIS DESTINATION. Join in alleviating "husband scarcity". PICK UP THE RIGHT VALUES. I am not saying that you should pick anyone that comes your way and talks of marriage, not all men are husband materials. What I am saying is that you should stop setting your standard on material acquisitions or physical appearances. Look beyond the physical. WHAT MAKES A MAN WHO HE IS, IS NOT WHAT HE OWNS OR HOW HE LOOKS, IT IS WHAT HE IS MADE UP OF. And that which he is made of is, most times, not seen with the physical eyes, only its effects can be seen. Marriage is a permanent thing. Whatever is seen is temporal and that which is not seen is permanent.
This post is worth sharing, let it go as far as it can.
Good afternoon

The first step to personal liberty is ti say the plain truth to oneself.
Until we have constitutional polygamy regulated by law. The problem has not even begun. T.M Aluko wrote One Man One Wife. abi? Una neva start.

This should reach the front page. Lalasticlala

Password : Long snake

ikubch:

The first step to personal liberty is ti say the plain truth to oneself.
Until we have constitutional polygamy regulated by law. The problem has not even begun. T.M Aluko wrote One Man One Wife. abi? Una neva start.

U ran so well BUT outside the track. This thread is about word use & not marriage. So.... That reminds me: @OP, 'so' should be #2 after 'that'. Most of its use has become redundant.

That's very very nice

BreketeMind:
U ran so well BUT outside the track. This thread is about word use & not marriage. So.... That reminds me: @OP, 'so' should be #2 after 'that'. Most of its use has become redundant.

Sorry, it was meant for another post.

ikubch:

Sorry, it was meant for another post.

My definition of 'good person' is 'anyone who can say sorry'; NOT anyone who is perfect. OP, next time cr8 an opposite thread on under-utilized words & include 'sorry'.

But where is lalasticlala sef

I hate English language... It doesn't deserve the popularity level it maintains worldwide... Illogical language... #oberhyped language

khalhokage:
khalhokage

@OP, are you a professional writer or anything close to that?

Good writing style there!

Englishhhhiiiiiiii
Yoruba my language
E no need any editing

dynamo77:
I hate English language... It doesn't deserve the popularity level it maintains worldwide... Illogical language... #oberhyped language

I wonder. All the words mentioned are english words.If they were not meant to be used, how did the words come about? To me our pidgin english should be adopted as our lingua franca because of its versatility - you are not tied to any strict rules of grammar: you are right as long as your listener understands you. The language is immaterial if the meaning is plain-lovely pidgin.

.

Thanks op. Vocabulary updated.

Cool

segxes23:
This should reach the front page. Lalasticlala

Password : Long snake

heheh.....


snake is the password......


waiting to reach FP....

very good of you @op

Imagine where this effort was put refining our native languages. Our languages would have grown, and would have been exported to all parts of the world via online use. White people who wants to visit Africa would've started learning Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Efik, Zulu, Swahili, Zona, Nupe, Ijaw, Igala, Ibibio, e.t.c on their computer.

Because of this OP I won't type with ENGLISH on NL again.


*I am officially using PIDGIN now*


Dear OP since you start to dey omit those words e give you alert from bank?


E dun reach when naija go make PIDGIN our official language.

ALWAYS and NEVER are the words you should always remember never to say

nice writeup

I like that #1.

When all those words are eliminated from the vocabulary, what's left?!

Which words make we come use?

OP we dey talk of No Fuel, No Light, No Money, No Babes and No Data and ur here preaching grammar.

as I dey type so, na naked I dey, no light, heat everywhere, got to sleep on the floor

abeg hide that grammar for now, we no talk say e no good, but wrong timing

Great write up. That husband scarcity own sef make sense. In all, "who una don epp"?. Make i go iron dis shirt, monday don show face finish. Job hunting continues, dis month must not pass me by.

ok

segxes23:
This should reach the front page. Lalasticlala

Password : Long snake

op you no try at all,because you see post online, you just copy and past,you no know anything about English language, what happen to 'contextual meaning of words'..

Oyiboman69:
op you no try at all,because you see post online, you just copy and past,you no know anything about English language, what happen to 'contextual meaning of words'..

My dear read and comprehend, this is targeted at professional writers, you're not one so use the door.

This is nice....

mu2sa2:
I wonder. All the words mentioned are english words.If they were not meant to be used, how did they words come about? To me our pidgin english should be adopted as our lingua franca, because of its versatility - you are not tied to any strict rules of grammar: you are right as long as your listener understands you. The language is immaterial if the meaning is plain-lovely pidgin.

Thanks my brother but the inferiority complex won't make us adopt it.

Communication is complete when the Receiver can decode what has been encoded by the sender, So why make it a great deal of using a pattern or law (grammar)

English is the only language that break its rule and won't be jailed.

Overrated Language and evolving Language


I Love Pidgin, Deutsch, Spanish.