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.