30 Obnoxious Phrases to Expunge from Your Writing Today

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.” ~William Strunk Jr. in Elements of Style
Whether it's a three-word quip, a 300-word review or a 3000-word essay, it’s easy to fall into the temptation and write the way ‘everyone else’ writes—not considering if there’s a simpler way to say something. However, one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd and improve your writing is to cut the clutter by eliminating unnecessary words and phrases in your text.
Writers know they should not conflate their work with obnoxious words that don't really mean anything. The problem, however, lies in recognizing the source of wordiness in the articles, blog posts, e-mails, sales copy and even fiction we write.
Not recognizing wordiness hinders us from achieving what Robert Hartwell Fiske, editor of the online journal Vocabula Review, calls "The Perfectibility of Words."
If you wish to write precisely and professionally without trading in puffery, it’s vital that you expunge any important-sounding phrases that add nothing to the meaning of a sentence.
Here are common, wordy phrases you should expunge from your writing as much as possible to achieve "The Perfectibility of Words" that Fiske talks about in "The Dictionary of Concise Writing":
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mutual agreement
Just say agreement
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future prospects
Just say prospects
-
whether or not
Just say whether
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consensus of opinion
Just say consensus
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reconsider again
Just say reconsider
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return back
Just say return
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inadvertent error
Just say error
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at this point in time
Just say now/then
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for the purpose of
Just say to
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due to the fact that
Just say because
-
in the near future
Just say soon
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in view of the fact that
Just say because
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there is no doubt that
Just say doubtless
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despite the fact that
Just say although
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concerning the matter of
Just say about
-
in the event that
Just say if
-
owing to the fact that/due to the fact that
Just say since/because
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for the purpose of
Just say to
-
the question as to whether
Just say whether
-
bring the matter to a conclusion
Just say conclude
-
aware of the fact that
Just say know
-
at this present time
Just say now/today
-
it is clear that
Just say clearly
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is able to
Just say can
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in spite of the fact that
Just say even though
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seem to be
Just say seem
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on a personal basis
Just say personally
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until such a time as
Just say until
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the reason why is that
Just say because
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in this day and age
Just say today