SUPERFLUOUS WORDS
Reading edition
Avoid awkward phrases as a man of the name of. A man named is not only better style but shorter. Do not write at the corner of State and Griswold streets, but simply at State and Griswold streets. In place of so that use either so or that. In the phrases that follow, observe that the italicized words are not needed.
throughout the whole of the state
throughout the entire state
in order to
a hill resembling in its form a hat
the problem is a difficult one
he addressed the different schools
As yet no clue has been found
he works equally as hard
most are of a large size
the color of the hat was green
Don't say invited guest. It is supposed that a guest is invited.
Don't say They both went. Omit they.
Write equally well, or as well, not equally as well.
Don't write new beginner or new recruit.
Don't write general consensus of opinion. Omit the general. Consensus means a general agreement.
Don't say entirely completed. Completed means finished in entirety.
Don't say partly completed; that phrase involves a contradiction.
Don't write that he has a brilliant future before him. Futures do not lie in the past.
Don't say present incumbent. Incumbent means at present in office.
Don't say old adage. If it's an adage, it's old.
Don't write widow woman, true facts, old veterans, the la grippe, the hoi polloi.
Don't say possibly may or possibly might. The verb conveys the idea of possibility.
Two words may be discarded generally in the phrase whether or not. Write it: He doesn't know whether he will go.
Omit the italicized phrase in He was thrown a distance of 50 feet.
Don't write regular monthly meeting. If it's monthly, it's regular.
If a man is well known, it is not necessary to say so.
Omit the adverb in the phrase totally destroyed.
Don't write still persists. Still is superfluous.
Make it noon, not high noon.