Stamp Out Unnecessary Language!

When it comes to our everyday talking and writing, we use a lot of words and phrases that we don't need to - and by taking them away, we actually sound better! Are you scratching your head yet? Here are some things we say, write or hear every day and some rules we can apply to make them sound and look better!

Currently.
An English teacher I had in college told the class, "There is no such word as 'currently'." We protested. He explained, "'Currently' is implied by the tense of the verb and is never necessary to use." He was right. I have often heard people say, "I am currently doing this." Now I realize they just could've said, "I'm doing this," and it would've had the same effect. It probably has a better effect, because it is short and to the point. Think about when you use the word, "currently", and see if it doesn't sound or look better to leave it out!

"Or No" / "Or Not"
I just heard a talk radio disc jockey say something like, "Would you like to do this with me, or no?" OR NO? What the heck does that even mean? I guess I would've chosen to do no, whatever that was. This is an awful grammar mistake and makes the person sound like their hedging on what they're asking, trying to cover all possible outcomes. Changing this to, "Would you like to do this with me, or not," is more grammatically correct and sounds better. But this still sounds like you're trying hedge on what you're asking. How do you fix this the best way? Just ask the question and let the other person say "yes" or "no" instead of you! In our example, "Would you like to do this with me," is the best way to say this!

AM / PM
I just heard someone say, "I have to be there at 8 AM Saturday Morning." I bit my tongue because I wanted to reply, "As opposed to 8 AM Saturday night?" If you're going to use AM or PM when you're talking about time, you don't need to mention the time of day (morning, afternoon, evening) - the AM or PM does that for you. As for midnight and noon, it's probably better to say "midnight" and "noon" instead of 12 AM and 12 PM, because some people get them confused.

Well, that's it for now! We'll cover more unnecessary language in my next article! See if you have any of your own!