What over-used word do you wish you can completely remove from the dictionary?
What over-used word do you wish you can completely remove from the dictionary?
8 years ago by kiltman
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What over-used word do you wish you can completely remove from the dictionary?
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Oh, man. I suspect anyone who grades essays will have a long list of overused words they'd like to eliminate. My "never use in an essay" list is topped by "overall," "countless," "many," "literally" and "actually."
But if I could remove one word from the dictionary of popular American culture, it would be either "artisan" or "(the) feels."
Haha, my Honors English II teacher in high school would flip out and draw disapproving faces all over your paper if you used the phrase "many different ways" in an essay. She also had similar feelings towards "good", "bad", and "said".
Comes with the job. My full list is long. Most of them are only poor choices under certain circumstances, so I left them out of my post, but if you include those and phrases ("throughout history/time" makes me absolutely crazy as a history instructor), the count probably runs into triple digits. But ultimately, vagueness, lack of preparation, and hyperbole are the essay writer's true enemies.
I honestly really love vague sentences (there's a beauty in that lack of specificity), but I do understand why it's out of place in a formal essay. In my less serious writing, however, I make the best of that flexibility.
What always gets me is misrepresentation. I have a slight tendency to mislead the reader by twisting around and cherry-picking evidence to support my own point, but at least that's sort of helpful in persuasive assignments. ...Though, the helpfulness of course varies depending on who your audience is and what the style of the assignment is.
Yep. It's all about context and purpose. If your English teacher is like me, she probably breaks her own rules all the time in informal communication.
As to persuasive writing, I wish more students knew to directly address opposing views early and often. Make the 'other side' defend their own position; don't let them turn the style of your argument against you. Present their argument in neutral terms (represent it accurately), break it down into its component assertions, then use evidence to show why you think each assertion is wrong. I think that's actually easier than cherry-picking evidence and trying to charm the reader.
Overall, avoid the many bad ways to say good things that are literally true and very specific. Throughout history, countless people have done this and actually succeeded. ;-)
All very true; thank you for the tips! :)
My pleasure. It's nice to be reminded that people outside the teaching profession or out of school still think about this stuff occasionally!
I see what you did there. ;-)
Hehe. If you ever need an essay composed of only the finest fluff-writing and BS, ask a teacher who grades essays all the time. I could do 2000 words that say absolutely nothing at the drop of a hat. But my English prof friend is a master at this and regularly send her colleagues birthday cards filled with aimless, terrible writing on the topic "happy birthday."
I should ask her for a few examples, I'm always short on useless and meaningless words for birthday cards, especially for colleagues I never even met!
I was going to post a photo of the card she sent me, but I can't find it. Her best trick is to insert quotes from Shakespeare, Ovid, Chaucer, etc. (she's a Classics/Renaissance type) that have nothing to do with anything - as students so often do - and then ramble about them in a way that seems like it might explain them but doesn't. You could try that!
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I have dibs on "actually", it's my favourite word so I'm keeping that. However, "gobsmacked" can be consigned to the bin of history forthwith.
Totally or definitely. A word is tough, but if i had to chose a phrase, then maybe 'You know what I'm saying?'