English Grammar Demystified - A Self Teaching Guide

200 English Grammar Demystifi ed

Deleting Unnecessary Words

How many times have you heard or read this classic example of repetition in a
sentence:

My friend, he eats a huge lunch and then an even larger dinner.

Which word do you need to delete? Of course, the answer is he. The pronoun just
repeats the subject, friend, and for no reason.
Here is another frequent error:

My reason for ordering in dinner is that I thought we would have more time to

talk.

My reason... is that is the unnecessarily wordy version of the following:

I ordered in dinner so that we would have more time to talk.

In addition, when your aim is clarity in writing, you need to weed out vague,
overwritten phrases.

We need a course in effective communications.

Did you mean clear writing? Then say it! We need a course in clear writing.

In some offi ces, there are equipment malfunctions. In my offi ce, there are only

clogged printers.

Other vague, overused phrases include:

fi nancial resources for money

inclement weather conditions for rain, sleet, snow

human resource development for training

banking facility for bank

retail facility for store