THINGS TO AVOID IN FORMAL WRITING ANY contraction

THINGS* TO AVOID IN FORMAL WRITING

• ANY contraction • ANY interjection • ANY exclamation points • ANY hyperbole (careful: tons of, lots of) • any abbreviation 1. Especially etc. or et cetera and vs. • Any acronym or initialism (with few exceptions)

• IT • The word ”it” is a pimple scraped from Satan’s armpits and dipped in the tears of a bulimic hedgehog. Avoid “IT” whenever you can.

Really or very • Especially as adverbs

Unnecessary prepositions • comprise (of) • emphasise (on) • stress (upon) • despite (of) • discuss (about) • request (for)

Any colloquialism or slang • okay • guy • thing • dad/mom • stuff • freak out • a lot/ lots of • sort of/ kind of • a couple • quite a bit • first off

Modifying Absolutes Absolute, impossible, principal, adequate, inevitable, sufficient, complete, main, unanimous, unavoidable, entire, minor, fatal, unique, final, universal, ideal, whole, preferable, dead, etc. e. g. “most unique” or “more preferable”

Clichés and idioms “All his eggs in one basket” “back against the wall” “down to earth” “long lost _____” “missed the boat” “open a can of worms” “trials and tribulations” “rings a bell” “tried and true” “tip of the iceberg” “twist of fate” “time and time again” “last but not least” “not out of the woods” “every fiber of his being” “fan the flame” “judge a book by its cover” “needless to say” “on the bandwagon” “see eye to eye” “worst nightmare” http: //www. be-a-betterwriter. com/cliches. html

Phrasal verbs • ”go over” • “end up/wind up” • “hang on/keep on/ go on” • “think over” • “make up” • “stick to” • https: //www. englishclub. com/vocabulary/phrasal-verbs-list. htm