Writing tips: Words to throw away

It’s time to ditch some catch-phrases. Maybe the first time you heard them, they sounded cool. But here is my list of words and phrases that no one should say, let alone write down, anymore:

    Push the envelope

    Outside the box

    Going forward, when it means “in the future”

    High-level

    On the ground, unless you mean something that is actually on the ground

    At the end of the day

    In the field of

    It is to be noted that

    The information you requested is below

    This report/letter/email is in reference to

    In light of this

    The month of

    In a nutshell


Obese text
Working for a large organization, I read a lot of text written in what I call “corporatese” — a language that obscures and hinders communication of ideas more than facilitating it. Documents filled with extra words and phrases that don’t add information, but just bloat the word count.

The next time you find that you’ve written any of these phrases, replace them with a single verb. Then re-read the text. You’ll be amazed at how much better it reads.

    Conduct the evaluation of — replace with “evaluate”

    During the period of — “between”

    Cognizant of/aware of — “know”

    At a later date — “later”

    First and foremost — “first”

    Due to the fact that — “because”

    In reference to — “about”

There are a lot more, but you get the idea. When you see a noun phrase — a group of words that convey the same meaning as a single word — replace their lazy asses with that single hard-working word.

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