Cut these fluff phrases from your content

We know it when we see it: A writer’s attempt to sound smarter or make an article longer by adding fluff phrases. I estimate that these phrases make up at least 30 percent of the content I edit.

The problem with all this fluff? It drives our readers away because many of them strive to read as little as possible of the messages we publish. Unnecessary phrases add to the noise readers are trying to filter out.

[FREE DOWNLOAD: 10 ways to improve your writing today.]

Below are a few fluff phrases that—in most cases—can be eliminated from your content:

1. As a matter of fact
2. As you may already know
3. At the present time/At this point in time
4. Basically
5. Because of the fact that
6. During the course of
7. For all intents and purposes
8. For the purpose of
9. Generally
10. Given the fact that
11. In case you haven’t heard
12. In light of the fact that
13. In my opinion
14. In regard to
15. In the event that
16. In the process of
17. It has come to my attention
18. It is believed by many that
19. It is designed to
20. It is interesting to note that
21. It is well known that
22. It may be said that
23. Needless to say
24. Please be advised that
25. That said
26. The fact of the matter
27. We have every intention

How about you, PR Daily readers? Do you have any other extraneous phrases to add to the list?

A regular contributor to PR Daily, Laura Hale Brockway is medical writer and editor from Austin, Texas. Read more of her work at impertinentremarks.

(Image via)

from PR Daily News Feed http://ift.tt/2qWPBHw