Five words and phrases you can (usually) delete from your writing

Less is often more – especially when it comes to writing. Here are five phrases you can (usually) delete without losing any meaning:

It’s a fact that (and in fact)

Writing it’s a fact was a bad habit of mine when I was younger – in fact, I still sometimes feel tempted to write it.

In the above sentence, in fact doesn’t add any meaning and can be replaced by and. As such, the sentence should be:

Writing it’s a fact was a bad habit of mine when I was younger – and I still sometimes feel tempted to write it.

To give another example: instead of writing it’s a fact that my jokes aren’t appreciated by most, just write my jokes aren’t appreciated by most.

That

Some editors say you can always delete that from a sentence – but there are times when you need it.

That’s because that is used to define what you’re talking about. For example, if you have five cats and one threw up on your bed before clawing your face, you can say: it’s the cat that threw up on my bed that clawed my face.

However, there are other times when it’s not needed.

Instead of writing: surfing is the sport that I like the most, just write: surfing is the sport I like the most.

The rule is if you can easily say the sentence out loud without the that, delete it. If not, leave it in.

I think

If you’re writing anything in the first person, I think is usually redundant. Instead of writing: I think it’s wonderful that so many people bought my novel, just write: It’s wonderful so many people bought my novel.

(And yes – we also got rid of a needless that as well.)

Experiencing

A basic writing rule is you should never use a word if there’s a shorter, simpler alternative. That’s why I loathe experiencing.

Instead of saying: we are experiencing turbulence, say: there’s turbulence.

Instead of saying: we are experiencing issues with our website, say: the website is down.

It’s important to note (or please note)

People often start sentences by saying: It’s important to note, or please note  – but it’s needless.

Don’t write: please note that unnecessary words suck the life out of your writing – just write: unnecessary words suck the life out of your writing.