Four Words You Can Do without for Better Writing

Erik Deckers reports:

"New writers struggle with writing, not because they don’t have a command of language. They do. Rather, they use a lot of needless words...There are two kinds of thats — ones that you need, and ones that you don’t. When you delete a that, re-read the sentence and see if it still makes sense. If it does, you didn’t need it; if it doesn’t, you did...[A]dverbs weaken writing because they detract from what’s being said. It’s one more unnecessary word that bogs down the narrative, and when it’s overused, can jolt a reader out of their reverie. You don’t want that. You want your reader to stay immersed in your work. An adverb modifies a verb, but why would you need to? Never describe a verb, [but] use a descriptive verb instead...A lot of new writers who learn how to write dialogue like to show off their newfound skills by using a lot of different conversational indicators. They think it makes them sound like they have a command of dialogue. It doesn’t. It makes them sound like they have a thesaurus. There are two words you should use for dialogue, said and asked. And you should use the latter sparingly. Also, if you say 'asked,' you don’t need to respond with answered...It’s because the word 'said' is a non-distracting word. We’re so used to seeing it, we don’t notice it. The only thing better than a well-turned phrase is one that’s never noticed. It’s like a good bass line to a song: [Y]ou don’t notice it when it’s there, but you definitely notice when it’s wrong or missing. Stick with said, and make that part of your writing go unnoticed so people can notice the brilliance of the rest of your dialogue...If you want to be more authoritative and credible, remove all references to your opinion, unless it’s absolutely necessary to mention it. For example, if you’re writing a news article, but you have to add something you’re not sure of, then drop in a qualifier to...avoid confusing the reader who might mistake your opinion for a statement of fact. Otherwise, make it sound like your every utterance from the mountaintops should be heeded by all the land...Start excising these words from your writing and make it a regular habit. Whether you’re writing a blog post, an article, or even just a series of emails, drop these words, and focus on avoiding them whenever you can."