Modifiers

Modifiers are often trouble for writers. We strew them across the landscape of our writing without first determining if they are necessary. Or we use them to take the place of specific nouns and strong verbs. One of our first tasks of editing is stripping our sentences to their cleanest components. Examine every adjective and adverb and make certain that it has a job to do in the sentence. William Zinnser said, "Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident. . . . Every little qualifier whittles away some fraction of trust on the part of the reader. Readers want a writer who believes in himself and what he is saying. Don't diminish that belief. Don't be kind of bold. Be bold."

Here are modifiers and phrases that you can often eliminate:

absolutely
actual
basically
carefully
comparative
consistently
definitely
eminently
existing
herself
ideally
in particular
indeed
itself
namely
now
particular
pretty
real
relatively
so
specific
unfortunately
especially
truly
active
actually
arguably
both
certain
comparatively
decidedly
effective
eventually
fortunately
himself
in fact
in the future
inherently
meaningful
necessarily
over time
particularly
quite
really
reportedly
so-called
themselves
very
totally
madly
actively
alleged
available
careful
certainly
considerably
definite
eminent
exactly
generally
hopefully
in general
in the past
inevitably
meaningfully
needless to say
overall
per se
rather
related
respectively
somewhat
total
whatever
utterly
deeply