Writer's Style Guide

Introduction
Abbreviations
Capitalization
Dates, Numbers, Places
Plurals & Possessives
Punctuation Primer
Sensitivities
Titles
Tech Talk
Tricky Words
Pet Peeves
Proofreaders' Marks

Pet Peeves

These words and phrases have been “done to death.” Here are a few ideas for better ways to get your point across without using redundant, awkward or pretentious wording:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Weak	Better
A
absolutely essential	essential
accompany	go with
accordingly	so
additional	added, more, other
address	discuss
adequate enough	enough
adjacent to	next to
afford an opportunity	allow, let
anticipate	expect
a large number/part	many/most
a number of	some
a variety of	many, different
appreciable	many
approximately	about
as a means of	to
at the present time	now
		top
B
basic fundamentals	basics
be responsible for	handle
		top
C
capability/capable of	ability/can
center around	center in, at or on
comes into conflict	conflicts
commitment to excellence	quality
comply with	follow
comprise	form, include, make up
concerning	about, on
constitutes	is, forms, makes up
construct	build
contact	call, write, reach
currently	omit it. It’s already implied.
cutting edge	forefront, frontier
cutting-edge	leading, pioneering, progressive
D
designate	appoint, choose, name
determine	decide, figure, find
do not hesitate to call	call
due to the fact that	due to, since
		top
E
equitable	fair
evidenced	showed, shown
exhibit	show
exhibits a tendency to	tends to
		top
F
facilitate	ease, help
factor	reason, cause
feedback, input	opinion, reaction
foreign imports	imports
for the purpose of	to
furnish	give, send
future prospects	prospects
G
generate	do, make, create
gives consideration to	considers
		top
H
head up	head
high tech	pioneering technology (or a more specific substitute)
holds a belief	believes
		top
I
if at all possible	if possible
impacted	affected, changed, hit
implement	carry out, do, follow
in accordance with	by, following, under
in addition	also, besides, too
in an effort to	to
in conjunction with	with
in order to	to
in the near future	soon
inception	start, beginning
initiate	start, begin
innovative	creative, pioneering, inventive
input	comments, advice, response
J
joint cooperation	cooperation
just exactly	exactly
		top
K
L
legislation	law
		top
M
makes an attempt	attempts, tries
maximize	increase, enlarge, expand, broaden
minimize	decrease, lessen, reduce
modify	change
N
necessary (pre)requisites	(pre)requisites
new innovations	innovations
numerous	many, most
		top
O
objective	aim, goal
optimum	best, greatest, most
output	comment, idea
		top
P
past experience	experience
personnel	people, staff
pre-planning	planning
prioritize	put in order
prior to	before
provides guidance for	guides
possibly might	might
postpone until later	postpone
purpose is to	(don’t need it)
Q
qualified expert	expert
		top
R
(in the) real world	in the world, in society, in business
real-world problem	practical issue, business (or social) issue or problem
refer back	refer
retain	keep
		top
S
send a communication to	notify
similar to	like
solicit	ask for
state-of-the-art	latest
T
try and fix	try to fix
		top
U
unique	one-of-a-kind (literal) exciting, new, unusual (as often used)
utilize, utilization	use
		top
V
viable	practical, workable
W
warrant	call for, permit
whereas	since
wide range	many, range
wide variety	many, variety
without further delay	now, immediately
with the exception of	except for
X
Y
Z

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