good to know, thanks

The problem with so many of these lists is that they are subjective and specific to that author and their preferences and idiosyncrasies. The idea of trauma in order to be a good author is so utterly ridiculous.

Are you certain that I shall remove the words "endeavor, utilize, commence, expedite, impose, propose, etc" in my mystery novel occurring at the end of the nineteenth century? 😁 "She watched him walking forwards but seeing absolutely nothing. She had probably not realized that something like an endeavor to exit was felt inside him. Suddenly, the man ran very quickly away from the place where the two walls met. However, it was to late for him. There was a shot, and he fell, shot precisely at the head by a bullet from her revolver. She had literally killed him. Now, she was obviously a criminal, and under no circumstances would she tell the bitter, bitter truth." Who could write a paragraph worse than this?

I think utilize can be effective when the object isn’t being used for its primary or obvious purpose. I use a fork to eat, but I may utilize a fork as a letter opener.

it’s good when they’re also intentional otherwise the metaphors and similes come off cheesy.

I noticed that in many books that dont use the term suddenly, Inhad to reread paragraphs because I was confused about what is going on. The term suddenly helpa me understand thwt something happens that is unexpected and that's why things are confusing. I mean that word is there for a reason.

Brand sanderson books are loaded with stuff like "stood up" "

If I have a grudge against the word 'the', is that healthy? It feels like it comes up often enough to be padding but also it's literally 'the'.

No matter how many branches the tree held. No matter how much weight or heavy wind it was subjected to the trunk held firm in the endless storm, bearing the burdens of all the creatures that depended on it. That is what the tree needed to be; that was its purpose.

1:43 Yeah I use just wayyy too often.

'suddenly', and 'how ever' are certainly a struggle not to use over and over.

Names that can not be pronounced are a no from me. I will immediately put the book down

You got almost all the way to the end before saying a pointless 'perhaps' 😁

I'm not sure I would agree that "something" is an empty word that doesn't convey anything, as it seems clear to me that it conveys uncertainty and a general lack of clarity on the part of the viewpoint character. It's for feelings that you can't accurately pinpoint or identify. The rewritten sentences all lose this feeling of uncertainty by being too quick to put a face on the unknown. It goes from something nebulous and vague-the house being creepy for reasons the protagonist can't quite put their finger on-to something much more concrete and limited like groaning and creaking in the wind.

Wait, where do you hear lowkey a lot? I'm from NY and we used it a lot in the aughts, but now? Is this another 20yo word that's now shown up as "new" slang? I'm lowkey curious. ;p

How do you just not love this guy? The best

Thank you for your great advice. I’m writing a stage play and a word here today made a fun challenge. Teacher: “Johnny, give a sentence with the word nidifugous.” Johnny: “My antagonist says, two military officers investigate a mysterious electronic disturbance, find nothing, but decide to file a report on a ‘nidifugous’ rock carried under his arm by Arnold Schwarzenegger from a potato field in Idaho.” Teacher: “Explain how a rock is nidifugous.” Johnny: “During an earthquake, the rock was shaken from a bed of 16 million year old basalt, as a hatchling. Also give credit for my simile, rock and Schwarnegger.” Teacher: “Johnny, be careful with whom you share your fantasies. Leave a copy of your play on my desk.”

Is it absolutely necessary for all these annoyance in the form of advertisements.

I guess racism is the ultimate sloppy word now. Used for the most trivial of offenses, racism practically means disagreement between people of different races.

I strongly disagree with the section on puff words. None of those words are big or complex words. Using synonyms is great to reduce redundancy. If someone genuinely gets mad at any of those words being used, it's probably some type of insecurity. They're completely normal and common words. People don't use to try to sound smart.

Insanely helpful. Just eliminated hundreds of 'justs', 'literallys' and 'ups' and 'downs' from an already too long manuscript! thank you!

Okay so here's a question for you, Professor. What if you have any of these weak words in dialogue between characters that matches how that character would talk? Is it okay if they stay in there? Edit: Never mind, you answered my question literally seconds after I made this post. Carry on!

All good stuff but the ads are out of control Nine ads in a twenty minute video. At least I was allowed to skip them but they are still very annoying, ruining the pacing of the video.

I’m cooked

On the use of "that": It has 2 distinct usages, only one of which is optional (deletable). It can be a demonstrative (pointing word, "this book, not that book") or to start a relative clause (adding information about a noun, "it was the day [that] my grandmother exploded" -> adding information about the day in question). The latter can be removed (except for when it can't), but as a demonstrate you can't drop it.

13:07 wtf is Wilson doing stopping traffic?

"Sat up" is very much a thing.. Granted "They straightened up in their seat" might be better but I'm not sure why we're forgetting 'sat up' is actually a valid phrase.

Skunk Words. Words that are incorrect but look similar to the word you meant to use but it is a real word and does not get picked up by a spell checker. ie: Thought /Through - Cloth/Clothe - Breath/Breathe. Quite often it is finger muscle memory that makes you type these.

Why do so many people say "these ones" these days...?

One can even burn something up, or down!

Shortly afterward...

She bruised the wretch... instead of brutalized the wretch.

Ok, so... not this that, but maybe that that?

"The first thing you need to be a writer..." he says..then goes on to talk his usual crap. . The first thing you really need to be a writer is a pen .

Use and utilize mean something different. Use is action. You use someone, something, or yourself to do something. Use is also to apply something to an action. German: brauchen oder gebrauchen. Ulitize means make use of someone or something more indirectly, sometimes nefarious, you exploit, take advantage of something or someone or a situation- German: verwenden, nutzen, aber auch ausnutzen, benutzen (negatively).

Atchafalaya😂😂😂 I didn't recognize the word when you said it and laughed super hard when I realized what the word must be. Here in Louisiana we say ot this way: ah-chaff-ah-lie-ah

Far be it from me to criticize published writers, but "that" is a _very_ unusual example of a weasel word, which Merriam-Webster defines as "a word used in order to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position". These are commonly used to soften statements, to avoid offense. You'd definitely not want them in your writing, except in dialogue of insecure characters, or politicians. I think repurposing this very useful phrase to apply to pronouns (etc.) is unnecessary - in fact "unnecessary" would be a more precise term.

Suddenly Last Summer, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Love, Actually have entered the chat.

"If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out." How about, 'If it is possible to cut a word, cut it."

I'll see the That Guy and raise him. "She told me she would wrestle the alligator." What fluff! What about, "She said she would wrestle an alligator." I just sped up the sentence and it's likely implied by context that she said it to the narrator. Oh crap I just used a that. Back to the drawing board.

6:15 Perfect example of Hollywood teaching us to simp.

It really depends on the language. I mean you re refering exclusively to English right?

Utilize connotes the use of something for a purpose it is not intended. He utilized the brick as a hammer.

18:49 as an spanish speaker, I always asked myself why you have to use those words together if the meaning it's still clear

Hey guys what are your top 10 favorite words? Just like by how cool they sound, not necessarily meaning or being extremely useful. Tho ofc they can be. Mine are, no particular order: Zephyr, galvanize, sentinel, mollify, glorious, exacerbate, complacency, connoisseur, languid, meander.

Why does he literally say literally like he's literally an English butler?

This is just me being the contrarian, but you can *sit up*. It means to sit straighter in the seat as well as an exercise.

I have never read or heard any English composition that didn't overuse "that". Including this! eg. "The advantage of using fewer filter words is [that] it makes the reader feel..." And while we're on the subject - (it's not usually a problem in writing but...) the majority of Americans can safely omit 1000 "like"s from their speech on a daily basis without being misunderstood.

Study Hemingway.

@0:21 "DROWNDING in details"? You want to be taken seriously & you say _drownDing?_