This document provides tips for deleting redundant words and phrases in writing. It suggests removing meaningless words like "kind of" and "actually". It also recommends deleting doubled words like "full and complete" and modifiers where the base word implies the modifier, like "basic fundamentals". By trimming unnecessary words, writing can be tightened up and made more concise.

1. Deleting Redundancy

2. Delete Meaningless Words
 Examples:
 Kind of
 Actually
 Particular
 Really
 Certain
 Various
 More Examples:
 Individual
 Virtually
 Basically
 Generally
 Given
 Practically
Some words are verbal tics that we use as
unconsciously as we clear our throats.

3. Delete Meaningless Words
 Don’t use words whose meaning adds nothing to the sentence.
 Example:
 Productivity actually depends on certain factors that basically involve psychology
more than any particular technology.
 Productivity depends more on psychology than on technology.

4. Delete Doubled Words
 Examples:
 Full and complete
 True and accurate
 Hopes and desires
 Hope and trust
 Each and every
 More examples:
 First and foremost
 Any and all
 Basic and fundamental
 Various and sundry
Early in the history of English, writers began to pair a native English word
with a French or Latin word, because a borrowed word sounded more
educated than the native one.

5. Delete Doubled Words
 When you use a familiar pair of adjective, your readers probably need only one of
them.
 Example:
 He says he is first and foremost a storyteller and has an enduring romance with the
English language.
 He says he is first a storyteller and has an enduring romance with the English
language.

6. Delete What Readers Infer – Redundant
Modifiers
 Examples:
 Completely finish
 Basic fundamentals
 Final outcome
 Terrible tragedy
 Past history
 Future plans
 More Examples:
 True facts
 Free gift
 Various different
 Personal beliefs
 Consensus of opinion
 Each individual
Often meaning of a word implies its modifier.

7. Delete What Readers Infer – Redundant
Modifiers
 When a word implies its modifier, drop the modifier.
 Example:
 Do not try to anticipate in advance those events that will completely revolutionize
society because past history shows that it is the eventual outcome of minor events
that unexpectedly surprises us more.
 Do not try to anticipate revolutionary events because history shows that the
outcome of minor events surprises us more.

8. Delete What Readers Infer – Redundant
Categories
 Examples:
 Large in size
 Unusual in nature
 Of a bright color
 Round in shape
 Of a strange type
 More Examples:
 At an early time
 Honest in character
 Area of mathematics
 In a confused state
Ever word implies the name of its general category, so you can usually
cut the word for the category.

9. Delete What Readers Infer – Redundant
Categories
 When the general category word is attached to a specific modifier, drop the
category word.
 Example:
 During that period of time, the membrane area became pink in color and shiny in
appearance.
 During that period, the membrane became pink and shiny.

10. Delete What Readers Infer – Redundant
Categories
 Sometimes, when we eliminate the category, we must change an adjective into an
adverb.
 Example:
 The holes must be aligned in an accurate manner.
 The holes must be aligned accurately.

11. Delete What Readers Infer – Redundant
Categories
 Sometimes we must change an adjective modifying a deleted category into a noun.
 Example:
 The educational process and public recreational activities are the responsibility of
the county government.
 The county is responsible for education and public recreation.

12. Delete What Readers Infer – General
Implications
 This kind of wordiness is a general version of the others, but it is harder to spot
because it can be so diffuse.
 Example:
 Imagine someone trying to learn the rules for playing the game of chess.
 (Learning implies trying; playing a game implies rules; chess is a kind of game. )
 Imagine someone learning the rules of chess.
 (When one word implies others, cut the others.)