Nothing Words

by Peter Saint-Andre

2006-01-16

Back when I worked as an editor, I used to be especially hardnosed about what I like to call "nothing words", such as "very", "really", "just", and "actually". These words add nothing to a sentence and are mere filler. Consider the difference:

Very few people really understand just how worthless these words actually are.

vs.

Few people understand how worthless these words are.

I find it hard to remove these nothing words from my speech because that's how people talk nowadays, but I've been working to ruthlessly remove them from my writing.


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