Mistake of the Month—Unnecessary Modifiers

As Mark Twain once wrote, “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

Unnecessary modifiers make your writing weak and bloated, burying your message in a deluge of quites and rathers. These modifiers add no value to the sentences in which they appear. The first step to fixing the problem is identifying the filler words in your writing.

These words, also called intensifiers or qualifiers, are almost always adverbs. Here’s a list of the most commonly abused modifiers:

• Actually
• Really
• Basically
• Probably
• Very
• Definitely
• Somewhat
• Kind of
• Extremely
• Practically

So why are they so bad? We use these words constantly, peppering our everyday speech with them so often that they cease to have any meaning, becoming transparent. In written communication, these modifiers take up valuable space. In a world where readers’ attention spans are growing shorter by the day, getting to the point as quickly and concisely as possible is essential. For additional tips on making your writing more concise, check out the always-helpful Purdue Online Writing Lab.

Beyond trimming the fat from your writing, “weasel” words like somewhat andkind of dilute your message. That’s great if you’re trying to spare a friend’s feelings—“Your one-man mariachi band kind of needs some work, Steve”—but not if you’re trying to make a strong point in business or academic writing. Don’t equivocate; get straight to the point and make it without hedging.

The best and easiest way to get rid of unnecessary modifiers is not to use them in the first place. However, if your existing work needs to be pared down, read each line and evaluate it for wordiness. More often than not, your sentences will be just fine without these modifiers. Unfortunately, you’ll need to approach them on a case-by-case basis, since sometimes the modifiers do change the meaning of your sentence. Let’s take a look as some examples:

Example: It was a very hot day in Albuquerque.

In this example, the word very does indicate an increased degree of heat, but is the sentence “It was a hot day in Albuquerque,” truly have a significantly different meaning? It can safely be cut.

Example: She was actually a robot.

In the sentence above, actually indicates that her identity as a robot is something of a surprise. Keep it.

Example: We’re really going to regret this in the morning.

Here, really is used as an intensifier, showing the degree to which they’re going to regret whatever it is. However, “We’re going to regret this in the morning” means the same thing. Cut it.

Example: I am definitely going to take a vacation this Christmas.

The word definitely adds nothing of value to this sentence—“I am definitely going” and “I am going” mean the same thing—but depending on the tone of the piece, it may be appropriate to leave in.

When trying to capture a character’s voice in fiction or in writing a casual email, feel free to modify away. However, more formal settings require more precise language. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Writing Center has a great primer on how to tighten up your writing.

Which of these unnecessary modifiers to you use most often in your writing? Get out your red pen and be ruthless!

Conditional Verbs

Conditional verbs are used to create conditional sentences, which express hypothetical or unlikely situations. Conditional verbs can be used in the past, present, or future tense, and auxiliary verbs like can/could, will/would, and may/might are important in forming conditionals.

Consider the following conditional sentences, and pay close attention to the conditional verbs in each of them:

If my cousin had been just a little taller, he could have been a basketball player.

If I had enough money, I would travel around the world.

If Alex finishes his essay, he will come over tomorrow.

What Are Your Subject Line Pet Peeves?

Imply vs. Infer—What’s the Difference?

• Imply means to suggest or to say something in an indirect way.
• Infer means to suppose or come to a conclusion, especially based on an indirect suggestion.

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Implying and inferring are both common elements of communication. One means to state something, and the other to conclude something. But it’s surprisingly easy to confuse these two verbs.

What Does Imply Mean?

When we imply something, we’re hinting at what we mean but not saying it directly:

I didn’t mean to imply that your grasp on grammar is bad.

He didn’t make any promises, but he did imply that he’d be back for the holidays.

What Does Infer Mean?

When you come to a conclusion based on something you think someone implied, you’re inferring:

Am I right to infer that you think my grammar is bad?

We inferred that he’d be back before the holidays because he didn’t leave with enough luggage for a long trip.

Examples

Even at face value, well-intentioned repairs surely imply why repairs were necessary.

Chicago Tribune

But the inclusion of the term “migration” was not meant to imply a general federal power to restrict migration, but was a euphemism intended to bolster the pretense that the Constitution did not endorse slavery.

The Washington Post

Current technology uses radars on satellites to infer wind speeds, and both sending and receiving these signals is a more costly process.

NBC-2

You can probably infer from its R18 rating that Verhoeven doesn’t shy away from the sexual violence aspects of the narrative, and the film’s repeated flashbacks to the assault seem a little gratuitous.

Stuff

Parallel Structure and Prepositions

When prepositional phrases are used in a parallel series, prepositions (with, to, of, over, under, by, etc.) should be repeated with every element of the series unless all elements use the same preposition. A common error is to repeat prepositions unnecessarily, resulting in a stilted style.

I am making a stew with beef, with carrots, and with onions.

In this sentence, there are three prepositional phrases complementing I am making a stew. If written separately and not in a single, parallel structure, they would read:

I am making a stew with beef. I am making a stew with carrots. I am making a stew with onions.

When combining these elements into a single sentence, there is no need to repeat the preposition with because it is used identically for each element.

I am making a stew with beef, carrots, and onions.

Writing the sentence this way ensures a clear, uncluttered style.

What to Avoid: Mixing Prepositions in a Parallel Structure

Mixing prepositions improperly in a parallel structure is a common writing mistake. If a writer allows multiple phrases to share a preposition and then introduces a different preposition with another element, the result is a clumsy sentence.

The baby flung spaghetti strands on the walls, the counters, and under the table.

If we separate the elements of this sentence, we have:

The baby flung spaghetti strands on the walls. The baby flung spaghetti strands on the counters. The baby flung spaghetti strands under the table.

The first two elements require the preposition on, but the last element requires the preposition under. Therefore, it is necessary to repeat all three prepositions when combining the elements into a parallel sentence structure.

The baby flung spaghetti strands on the walls, on the counters, and under the table.

Double Negatives: 3 Rules You Must Know

You probably have been told more than once that double negatives are wrong and that you shouldn’t use them. However, usually, it’s left at that — without any explanation of what exactly a double negative is or why it’s considered incorrect (in standard English). We want to fix that. Here is the essential list of things you must understand about double negatives.

1 In standard English, each subject-predicate construction should only have one negative form.

Negative forms in English are created by adding a negation to the verb.

I will bake a cake.

I will not bake a cake.

I can go anywhere tonight.

I cannot go anywhere tonight.

We are planning a trip.

We are not planning a trip.

Sometimes there are negative forms of nouns — such as “nowhere,” “nothing,” and “no one” — that are used. If these are in a sentence, it is important that the verb in the sentence is not negated.

He’s going nowhere.

He’s not going nowhere.

2 A double negative is a non-standard sentence construction that uses two negative forms.

Double negatives are created by adding a negation to the verb and to the modifier of the noun (adjectives, adverbs, etc.) or to the object of the verb.

I won’t (will not) bake no cake.

(verb negation + object negation)

I can’t (cannot) go nowhere tonight.

(verb negation + modifier negation)

3 Learning standard English negation is difficult because many languages and some English dialects use double negatives conventionally.

Though it’s easy to assume that double negatives are simply unnatural aberrations, this assumption is wrong. In many languages worldwide, it is grammatically incorrect to use anything but the double negative! (This is called negative concord.)

No hay ningun problema. (Spanish) “There isn’t no problem.” meaning “There isn’t a problem.”

Я не хочу нічого їсти. (Ya ne hochu nichogo yisty.) (Ukrainian) “I don’t want nothing to eat.” meaning “I don’t want to eat anything.”

To make it more complicated, it’s not just foreign languages that conventionally employ double negatives but some dialects of English do as well! African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Southern American English, and some British regional forms use negative concord constructions. Negative concord is even used several times in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. (For example, a line about the Friar, “Ther nas no man no wher so vertuous,” literally means “there wasn’t no man nowhere as virtuous.”)

So, while double negatives are not correct in standard English, that doesn’t make them any less useful in other dialects. We encourage writers to learn how to negate sentences using the standard grammar — especially for professional settings — but we love the diversity of English (and language in general) and think that use of dialectal grammar is fine in open, less formal environments.

How do you remember not to use double negatives? Do you think double negatives should be considered incorrect?

Welcome to LitMas, the Bookish Holiday Season

’Tis the season . . . to read! The holiday season means colder nights and more time inside for some, so why not spend it with your nose buried in a book?

We know the winter season can be tough for many people, with its short days and long nights. We also know bibiliotherapy is both real and wonderful. So, in the spirit of the holidays and bookishness, we’ve decided to create a new holiday focused on bibliophiles, bookworms, and jokesters of all sorts. Put on your reading hats and pour a new cup of cocoa, because LitMas is here!

Of course, LitMas would be terrible fake holiday without gifts! Today, we have one gift for our loyally nerdy bookworms. Instead of a partridge in a pear tree, here’s a poem on the beauty of snow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Source: “Snow-Flakes” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, via The Poetry Foundation

What’s your favorite holiday read? Send us your favorites with #LitMas, and we’ll post some of them later this week.