From the course: Writing with Flair: How to Become an Exceptional Writer

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Dramatic and forceful writing

Dramatic and forceful writing

From the course: Writing with Flair: How to Become an Exceptional Writer

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Dramatic and forceful writing

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- Now, there are words that we sometimes use that can weaken writing or take away it's force. As we saw with cliches, these are words we often use out of habit, they don't really mean that much but we just default to them. When we litter our copy with such words, it can take away from the evocativeness of the writing in the sense that it can lessen it's force. I call this weak words. But they're also sometimes referred to as filler words or hedging words. I'm talking about words like somehow, somewhat, a little, rather, arguably, quite. Now, often, these type of words are leaned on for security when we feel maybe unsure of ourselves and though there are times when it's okay to hedge, maybe, to convey humility or genuine doubt about what you're saying, it can still be overdone. As always, we shouldn't default to such expressions simply because we've seen them a lot or because it's a habit, especially if it weakens the power of our writing so we should try to remove them and see what…

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