Tuesday Tip #45: Cut the Filler

Some of you may be wondering, what is filler? Filler is the unnecessary words, sentences, or punctuation cluttering your prose! A common filler we find is the overuse of adverbs (think: recently, particularly, etc.).

Consider the below example:

This shows the filler words, phrases, and sentences versus the necessary content.

How can you reduce the clutter? Check out these 5 tricks!

1. Avoid long clauses.

BEFORE: The runner who'd been looking at their phone ran into the man.

AFTER: The runner ran into the man.

2. Watch your transitions.

BEFORE: I ran and therefore I'm tired.

AFTER: I'm tired from running.

3. Cut adverbs.

BEFORE: Currently our estimates are 2% higher than December's projections.

AFTER: Our estimates are 2% higher than December's projections.

4. Avoid repetition.

BEFORE: Our estimates are 2% higher than December's projections, which means we're

higher than projections.

AFTER: We're 2% higher than December's projections.

5. Watch out for -ing.

BEFORE: Mike started talking to his boss.

AFTER: Mike talked to his boss.