Minutes a day n e w y o r k

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E D I T I N G
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RETAIN ONLY THE FIRST WORD
DROP THE MODIFIER (FIRST WORD)
any and all
odd in appearance
past memories
terrible tragedy
first and foremost
mathematics field
final destination
end result
refer back
cheap quality
general consensus
final outcome
close proximity
honest in character
various differences
free gift
large in size
confused state
each individual
past history
often times
modern in design
basic fundamentals
totally obvious
reason why
unusual in nature
true facts
rarely ever
heavy in weight
extreme in degree
important essentials
unexpected surprise
period in time
strange type
future plans
sudden crisis
round in shape
Avoid Overly Informal and Overused Language
Words and phrases that are too formal, too obscure, or overused don’t belong in your essay.
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Vulgarisms
The last thing you want to do is turn off or offend your reader. Since it’s difficult to know what kinds of lan-
guage your audience may find offensive or in poor taste, err on the side of caution by not including any lan-
guage considered even mildly obscene, gross, or otherwise offensive. This includes scatological and sexual
terms, and words such as butt (as in “I worked my butt off ”), hell (as in “hotter than hell”), God (as in “oh,
God!”), and damn.
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Clichés
Clichés should be avoided not only because they are too informal, but also because they are overused. Your
writing must be in your own voice, without relying on stale phrases such as one step at a time; no news is
good news; have a nice day; when life gives you lemons, make lemonade; and no guts, no glory.
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Slang
Slang is nonstandard English. Its significance is typically far removed from either a word’s denotative or con-
notative meaning, and is particular to certain groups (therefore, it excludes some readers who won’t under-
stand it). Examples include blow off, canned, no sweat, and thumbs down (or up). It is also inappropriate and
offensive to use slang terms for racial or religious groups.
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Buzzwords
Buzzwords are a type of slang. They’re words (real or made up) that take the place of simpler, more direct words.
They are, at best, pompous, and at worst, confusing. And, like other forms of slang, buzzwords don’t belong in
your essays. Examples include resultful (gets results), suboptimal (not the best), guesstimate (estimate), requi-
site (necessary), potentiality (potential), and facilitate (help).