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128 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
128 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
# Phrases to Remove
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## Throat-Clearing Openers
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Remove these announcement phrases. State the content directly.
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- "Here's the thing:"
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- "Here's what [X]"
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- "Here's this [X]"
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- "Here's that [X]"
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- "Here's why [X]"
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- "The uncomfortable truth is"
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- "It turns out"
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- "The real [X] is"
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- "Let me be clear"
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- "The truth is,"
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- "I'll say it again:"
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- "I'm going to be honest"
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- "Can we talk about"
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- "Here's what I find interesting"
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- "Here's the problem though"
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Any "here's what/this/that" construction is throat-clearing before the point. Cut it and state the point.
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## Emphasis Crutches
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These add no meaning. Delete them.
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- "Full stop." / "Period."
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- "Let that sink in."
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- "This matters because"
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- "Make no mistake"
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- "Here's why that matters"
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## Business Jargon
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Replace with plain language.
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| Avoid | Use instead |
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|-------|-------------|
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| Navigate (challenges) | Handle, address |
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| Unpack (analysis) | Explain, examine |
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| Lean into | Accept, embrace |
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| Landscape (context) | Situation, field |
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| Game-changer | Significant, important |
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| Double down | Commit, increase |
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| Deep dive | Analysis, examination |
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| Take a step back | Reconsider |
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| Moving forward | Next, from now |
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| Circle back | Return to, revisit |
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| On the same page | Aligned, agreed |
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## Adverbs
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Kill all adverbs. No -ly words. No softeners, no intensifiers, no hedges.
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Specific offenders:
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- "really"
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- "just"
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- "literally"
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- "genuinely"
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- "honestly"
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- "simply"
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- "actually"
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- "deeply"
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- "truly"
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- "fundamentally"
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- "inherently"
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- "inevitably"
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- "interestingly"
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- "importantly"
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- "crucially"
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Also cut these filler phrases:
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- "At its core"
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- "In today's [X]"
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- "It's worth noting"
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- "At the end of the day"
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- "When it comes to"
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- "In a world where"
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- "The reality is"
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## Meta-Commentary
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Remove self-referential asides. The essay should move, not announce its own structure.
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- "Hint:"
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- "Plot twist:" / "Spoiler:"
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- "You already know this, but"
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- "But that's another post"
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- "X is a feature, not a bug"
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- "Dressed up as"
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- "The rest of this essay explains..."
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- "Let me walk you through..."
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- "In this section, we'll..."
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- "As we'll see..."
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- "I want to explore..."
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## Performative Emphasis
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False intimacy or manufactured sincerity:
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- "creeps in"
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- "I promise"
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- "They exist, I promise"
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## Telling Instead of Showing
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Announcing difficulty or significance rather than demonstrating it:
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- "This is genuinely hard"
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- "This is what leadership actually looks like"
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- "This is what X actually looks like"
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- "actually matters"
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## Vague Declaratives
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Sentences that announce importance without naming the specific thing. Kill these.
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- "The reasons are structural"
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- "The implications are significant"
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- "This is the deepest problem"
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- "The stakes are high"
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- "The consequences are real"
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If a sentence says something is important/deep/structural without showing the specific thing, cut it or replace it with the specific thing.
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