10 Overused Words in Writing

Yes, editing. That’s when writing actually takes place. The following is a list of some overused words we all tend to use. I know I do, especially #3. In my defence, my main character questions his motives and, above all else, his sanity, so it seems only natural for him to express doubt.

Some of the macros I use on my word processor include these words. What about you? Do you use any of these words too often?

Originally posted on Precise Edit's Blog:

All words are good words. Some, however, are overused without adding value to what you write. As a result, they reduce the readers’ interest, make text seem redundant, and cause the writer to appear amateurish.

We have created a list of 10 overused words, based on the documents we have edited over the last 5 years. We don’t recommend that you remove these words from your writing. Instead, we recommend that you become aware of how often you use them and that you revise your documents to limit their use.

1. There
When writers are not sure about the subjects of their sentences, they will often use this word as the subject. This results in weak writing. (For advice on correcting this problem, see our article “Where Is There?”)

Example: “There was no one at home.” This can be revised as “No one was at home.”

youfingerpointing1 2. You
Writers often…