Writers Tricks of the Trade ISSUE 1, VOLUME 9 | Page 22

ATTENTION WRITERS:
A RE Y OU G UILTY OF U SING “C LUNKY ” WORDS ?
H AL M ORRIS WWW . GRUMPYEDITOR . COM
Thanks to former LA Times and Los Angeles Mirror reporter and columnist,
Hal Morris, who hangs out at www.grumpyeditor.com these days, here are
more tips for writers.
B
rowsing the web, I ran across inter-
esting material directed at writers
from Oxford Royale Academy, Ox-
ford, United Kingdom.
It focuses on “clunky” (a seldom used
word in the U.S.) phrases that can be short-
ened or altered “to make them more ele-
gant.”
Oxford Royale points out the phrases
are usually redundant, read poorly or take
several words that could be wrapped up in
one.
“Another factor behind clunky phrasing
is the need to sound more intellectual” and
it degrades the quality of your writing, it
adds.
Among the clunky phrases, it cites “in
terms of” as meaningless. Just change it
to “about,” it suggests.
Some other examples:
In most cases, “in order to” works just
as well without the “in order.”
Instead of putting an “of” in your writ-
ing, such as with “finished all of the work,”
forget the “of” since “of” is only necessary
when the word following it is a pronoun, as
in “all of us” or “all of them.”
“At the end of the day” takes six words
that could be said in one --- ultimately.
Forget using “first and foremost” be-
cause “first” and “foremost” mean the same
thing. So it’s unnecessary to use both.
“It is important to note that” is a fairly
meaningless expression that could be
equally expressed with “importantly.”
Rather than using “in actual fact,” just
use “actually,” or don’t use it.
Substitute “because” or “since.” for
“inas much as”.
“In excess of” is a pompous way of
writing “over” or “more than.”
“Whether or not” does just as well
with “whether.”
Weed out unnecessary repetition, such
as 10 a.m. in the morning.
A BOUT THE A UTHOR :
Hal Morris spent two decades at Times-Mirror Co. — Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Mirror. Early bylines, while
a young, full-time editorial staffer at The Times, were as campus correspondent, Los Angeles City College, and fre-
quent contributor to The Times’ glossy Sunday Home Magazine, writing mostly about plants and flowers. He was one
of the first nine editorial people hired when the Los Angeles Mirror started. Read Hal’s Spotlight Interview on begin-
ning on Page 19 .
S PRING 2019
P AGE 17
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE