Writing Tips : for the Writer and the Aspiring Writer - Weak Words

This short article is presented for the writer and the aspiring writer.

Lazy, weak words - and superflous words

Below, I deal briefly with three words which we should become wary of overusing or using inappropriately. Such detracts from the power of both our oral and written presentations

So here we go:

Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t use the word great so often? Because if there one word that really grates from over use it’s great. Great speech, man. Great result, son, great performance, sir. We had a great time on our holiday.

Or...

Yes, your idea was really great. Keep up the practice and you’ll become great.

How about momentous? Memorable? Facinating? Or even profound as a generalization? – but not great.

Quite frankly, I’d be grateful if great were used less often...and if if was – it’d be great.

Used sparingly and in proper context the word great can be very powerful. For example:

“With a prolonged blast on her fog horn, and with her four huge funnels wafting smoke, the tugboats nudged the great ship out into the grey waters of the English Channel."

Or, Winston Churchill is regarded in Britain as one of the truly great men.

Another weak word is ‘terrific.’

We had a terrific time. That speech you gave was terrific. We had a terrific win; walked all over them. Oh, he's just a terrific player, etc.

Terrific infers terror. For example. A terrific, ear-drum shattering explosion left them aghast with fear. There was a terrific storm.

The weak word is the lazy word; the word used habitually and without aforethought. Turn your weak words into strong ones by using them sparingly and with precision. Words are your 'tools of thought.' Hone them!

Tautology is bad enough; habitual redundancy is even worse.

There has also been a tendency around the English speaking world to use words where they’re not needed at all. No, I’m not talking about Anglo-Saxon swear words. I’m talking about a word I know most of you hear in just about every second or third sentence nowadays: basicly.

Well, basically, I’d be basically more happy if you basically didn’t use the word basically so often. Why? Because basically it annoys the hell out of me to use basically when basically isn’t required.... I think you’ll get the picture. It’s a basic mistake.

I hope you like this brief article Writing Tips : for the Writer and the Aspiring Writer - weak words.

Keep smiling

Tom