7 Wasted Words to Wash From Your Vocabulary

Last week’s post about purging the word particular spawned many discussions and questions regarding other wasted words. Connections and friends through LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter shared their own stories of worthless words. 

The conversations reminded me of a song a teacher taught me about seven wasted words. We were not allowed to use any of these words in our papers. Today, these are the same words I coach my speaking clients to eliminate from their presentations. Like the word particular, these words add absolutely no value to the words they modify or the primary understanding of the sentence.

Oh, how I wish I could sing the song or hum the tune for you! Imagine this list of seven words recited in a sing-song manner to make them easy to remember:

Really

Rather

Quite

Very

Pretty 

Just (and)

That

And, if you think hearing the tune would cement these seven wasted words in your memory, then call me. I’ll sing them to you!

 

To customize a keynote or professional development session that will have your audience laughing and learning, contact Mandi Stanley.

Certified Speaking Professional Mandi Stanley works with business leaders who want to boost their professional image by becoming better speakers and writers through interactive high-content keynotes, breakout sessions, workshops, technical writing seminars, and fun proofreading classes. 

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Photo by Sudan Ouyang on Unsplash