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Overused and filler words to cut from your writing
Verbs
(Including dialogue tags and fillers – cut where you can and replace with action)
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ache/ ached/ aching
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ask/ asked/ asking
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begin/ began/ beginning
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believe/ believed/ believing
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breathe/ breathed/ breathing
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exhale/ exhaled/ exhaling
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feel/ felt/ feeling
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go/ went/ going
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grin/ grinned/ grinning
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have/ had/ having
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hear/ heard/ hearing
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inhale/ inhaled/ inhaling
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know/ knew/ knowing
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need/ needed/ needing
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nod/ nodded/ nodding
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notice/ noticed/ noticing
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ponder/ pondered/ pondering
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reach/ reached/ reaching
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realise/ realised/ realising
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reply/ replied/ replying
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say/ said/ saying
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see/ saw/ seeing
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seem/ seemed/ seeming
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shiver/ shivered/ shivering
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shrug/ shrugged/ shrugging
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sigh/ sighed/ sighing
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sit/ sat/ sitting
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smile/ smiled/ smiling
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stand/ stood/ standing
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start/ started/ starting
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step/ stepped/ stepping
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think/ thought/ thinking
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try/ tried/ trying
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turn/ turned/ turning
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understand/ understood/ understanding
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wonder/ wondered/ wondering
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could + verb (e.g. she could see – showing what she saw is better)
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Filler Words
Do you really need all those somewhat unnecessary words?
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across
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all
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almost
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down
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every
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just
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only
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quite
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rather
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really
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somehow
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somewhat
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sudden
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that
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up
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very
-
well
Adverbs
Check for “ly” endings and cut adverbs where possible. Here are some prime offenders!
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absolutely
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actually
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basically
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certainly
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completely
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definitely
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literally
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probably
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slightly
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suddenly
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totally
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virtually
Stating the obvious!
If you can reword sentences without the following… do it!
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there is/ there was (There was a cat blocking the road. Change to: A cat blocked the road.)
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there are/ there were
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of the (The owner of the hotel. Change to: The hotel owner.)
Overused nouns
Check how often they appear in your writing and cull, cull, cull!
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breath
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chest
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eye/ eyes
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face
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hand/ hands
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head
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heart
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stomach