Duke's Tips

From Paducah Sun Managing Editor Duke Conover, a list of words that make writing sluggish. You can add these to the "evil words" list.

and/or — It's either "and" or "or." If it is both, tell the reader why. Also, avoid using a forward slash (/).

by — passive and unnecessary: The congressman was defeated by the newcomer; The newcomer defeated the congressman

community — What is a community? If you are writing about people in a club, school, business, town, city, state, nation, then describe it to the reader, who almost always thirsts for more information but with a compact use of words. "Community" doesn't say anything when the reporter uses it other than "I don't know either."

country — Never use "country" to describe people. People make up a nation; boundaries form a country where a nation lives. Many dictionaries in second and third reference indicate that "nation" and "country" are interchangeable. But actually, they are not.

issue — tell the reader what this is: a concept, problem, matter for (insert name) to handle, etc.

myself — Never use "myself" unless "I" also is in the phrase.

process — Almost everything is a process: the process of opening a business, opening a business; the process of writing a grant proposal, applying for a grant.

there or here — Both words, in any usage, are absolute wastes of space. My recent favorite (from another newspaper): "There are items there that cannot be found here." I knew I had to be in some editor's nightmare. I pinched myself. It hurt. And I was sitting in front of a computer reading a newspaper online.

David here: I'm not absolutist about these rules, but in most cases these words will weaken your writing, and in most cases you can find a way to write it better.