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Pointless modifiers. Adverbs (words that modify verbs) and adjectives (words that modify nouns) are a little like salt and pepper - useful in very small doses, very bad in big ones. They're often used by lazy writers in an attempt to convince generic nouns ("the beautiful, voluptuous woman") and verbs ("he ran very quickly") to do more interesting jobs. The English language is full of precision nouns and verbs; whenever possible, use
right words rather than trying to modify wrong ones.
Needless qualifiers and hedging. Phrases like "and yet, on balance" and "it could be considered" destroy more confidence than they create. Be direct and write with strength: boldly write what you know, and leave out what you don't.
Pretentious language. Occasionally, we all have a crisis of confidence that leads us to think that we need large words and cumbersome sentences in order to be taken seriously. This is when it is time to take a nap and let feeling pass; "extraneous solutions that minimally impact positive budget modifications" is never going to sound better than "it won't work because it costs more than it'll make back".
Robert Warren (www.rswarren.com) is a freelance copywriter in the Orlando, Florida area, specializing in providing for the marketing and communications needs of the independent professional private practice.
