Editing Overused Words and a Peek at 2019’s Banished Words

Editing Overused Words and a Peek at 2019’s Banished Words

We all have words and phrases we like to use, often to the point of overuse. Maybe we’re not even aware we’re using them. When we’re writing, they seem to sneak into our manuscripts via our fingers, and sometimes it’s as if the brain isn’t involved at all. But “overused” can’t be assigned a number of uses. It depends on the word.

Little words, like “just” and “really” and “well” are commonly listed among words that don’t add anything...