#words to avoid

[writingmaz]

Writing Tips

Words to Avoid

This does not include dialogue.

These can be used (of course, it’s your writing!) just try to make sure they are not overused.

❉

↳ tell & don’t show

➳ telling words force the reader away from the story; showing immerses them

➝ consider

➝ decide

➝ feel / felt

➝ got

➝ has / have / had

➝ hear / heard

➝ is / are / was / were / am

➝ look

➝ next

➝ notice

➝ ponder

➝ recall

➝ remember

➝ see / saw

➝ smell

➝ taste

➝ then

➝ think / thought

➝ watch

➝ wonder

❉

↳ extra & can be removed

➳ declutter your writing; keeping your story concise holds the attention of the reader better

➝ absolutely

➝ completely

➝ down / up

➝ just

➝ really

➝ totally

➝ very

❉

↳ vague

➳ don’t make the reader guess what you mean; show them exactly what you’re describing

➝ a little

➝ a lot

➝ about

➝ almost

➝ appear

➝ approximately

➝ few

➝ like

➝ lots

➝ many

➝ might

➝ more

➝ most

➝ much

➝ often

➝ perhaps

➝ rather

➝ roughly

➝ seem

➝ some (somebody, somehow, someone, something, sometime, somewhat, somewhere)

➝ thing

❉

↳ absolutes

➳ don’t give the reader the opportunity to find discrepancies in your story

➝ absolute

➝ all

➝ always

➝ complete

➝ entire

➝ every (everybody, everyone, everything, every time, everywhere)

➝ never

➝ none

❉

↳ adverbs

➳ be as concise and meaningful as possible; every word you use should be the ideal descriptor

➝ anything ending in ‘-ly’

➝ if you’re using ‘-ly’ there is a better verb or adjective to use

➝ angrily, quickly, sadly, softly, suddenly, etc.

❉

↳ continuous action words

➳ these words reduce the sense of urgency; keep your readers hooked by keeping the tension

➝ after

➝ as

➝ continued

➝ when

➝ while

➝ ‘-ing’ verbs

❉

↳ transitions

➳ transition words allow writers to avoid finding connections between sentences, but meaningful connections increase immersion and flow

➝ after

➝ also

➝ anyway

➝ as

➝ besides

➝ even though

➝ finally

➝ however

➝ later

➝ meanwhile

➝ next

➝ so

➝ soon

➝ then

[motivationdoctor]

Why ‘Sorry’ is a Word to Avoid

You never get a second chance to make a good last impression.

Stop the noise I was checking out of a hotel recently after a not so restful night’s sleep. If you prefer to listen to this post – My slumbers were disturbed by some person trying to demolish the hotel with some kind of power tool in the middle of the night. Okay, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but at 3 o’clock in the morning, any sound is annoyingly amplified. My phone calls to…

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[mj-tries-to-write]

Words I try to avoid in writing

•Is/was

•thing

•ORB

•try not to start every sentence with he/she/they

Obviously, I use these in dialogue, but I don't like adding them in my actual writing because it can get really bland

[artificialscorpio]

[mapaprmarketing-blog]

A word about a word to avoid in a press release

You might have noticed in press releases that everyone is delighted – 'I'm delighted to get this job', 'We're delighted to get the go-ahead' 'Everyone is delighted' etc.

So it's a good idea to avoid the formulaic.

The road to this apparently straightforward communications tool getting into the media is rockier than you might imagine though.

A red-hot story will make the headlines easily enough and your role will be more about news management than pitching it to the media.

Lesser stories also make their mark, but a creative touch will help them to be noticed. Concise 'getting to the point' writing, inclusion of all relevant information and a headline on the crux of the story will appeal to editors. Aim to make press releases 'print ready'.

And when you see your story in lights, you will have every reason to be …. delighted.

View some of our written press releases on our website www.mapapr.co.uk/news 

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

I'm the prince Harry anon :) thank you for your answer! Oh God he really is an asshole! Also I have another question, reading your article I saw that he said a racist remark and used the word "P*ki" and I was surprised as in my mother language this word has no racist undertones. Is this word considered a racist word in the English language? As bad as "n*gga" for example? Thank you!!!!!

Thanks for your message!  I’m not sure I’m fully qualified to parse the relative terribleness of different racist slurs (or that it’s a useful thing to do).  The n-word is so powerful, because of its place within slavery and the continuing terrorist violence against African-Americans.

‘Paki’ doesn’t have such a long history.  It is a shortening of Pakistani and it acquired its racist connotations in the 1960s, when both organised racist groups and individual white people (including those with heaps of power) directed waves of racism and violence towards non-white immigrants to Britain. It became a way (alongside violence and discrimination) that white people dehumanised non-white immigrants (the term has never been used particularly accurately), expressed contempt to them and demonstrated a commitment to excluding them. To use it is to side with those people and those views and to communicate that you’re standing there to anyone who is listening.

I’m surprised that the word ‘Paki’ exists in your language if it doesn’t have racist undertones (but if it’s the full term for a person from Pakistan then I guess that’s just the way etymology sometimes works).  In English the word was basically coined as a racial insult. 

[beggerprince72]

Reblog with your triggers

[dcomeaux]

Writing Tips - Words to Avoid - No. 9

Writing Tips – Words to Avoid – No. 9

Here is another site with writing tips for those seeking to perfect their craft:

http://www.freelancewriting.com/articles/ten-words-to-avoid-when-writing.php

Donna B. Comeaux Freelance Writer, Novelist, Poet Read her new book, “Selfish Ambition,” on http://www.Smashwords.com. It’s FREE.

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