In his essay "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell famously mocked the use of not un- in English. His extreme example is, "A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field." While this sentence is ridiculous, it's also a straw man. Orwell and other English ... Read more
Goes without saying
It's easy to be hard on goes without saying---if something goes without saying, why say it?---but the phrase sometimes works well as a wordy way of saying obviously, and it can be useful for emphasis or transition. Of course, when tempted to say something goes without saying, you might want to ... Read more
Sort of
The phrase sort of is almost always logically unnecessary, especially when it's used to hedge a direct statement. Most sentences that contain sort of would benefit from its removal. There are exceptions, though. Sort of can be a synonym of type of, and it's also useful for signaling that what ... Read more
So to speak
Like the similar hedging phrase if you will, so to speak often appears where it adds nothing. The phrase, meaning as the saying goes or in a manner of speaking, is most useful when it indicates that an expression is not to be taken literally. Instead, many writers use so to speak to dull the impact ... Read more
Do apologize
Do apologize is a bureaucratic-sounding phrase best avoided in any genuine apology. The insertion of the helper word do ahead of apologize distances the speaker from the apology and hence the offending action, and this may only further infuriate the apology's recipient. The effect is subtle, but ... Read more
If you will
If you will, meaning if you will allow me to use this phrase, is a hedge phrase, and it could usually be removed. Writers often use it to apologize for a weak phrase---often a bad metaphor, a corny coinage, or a phrase the writer is reluctant to use. And sometimes it's used when a writer doesn't ... Read more
