At a time when written and verbal conversation has taken a tumble, it’s important that you know how to tighten up your vocabulary when it matters: on your resume, in presentations, in interviews, and in client meetings.
Eliminating certain words from your vocabulary—words that are vague, repetitive, unnecessary, or “fluffy”—helps your writing become clearer and improves your conversational skills. With that in mind, here are 4 words you need to immediately drop from your vocabulary, with a little help from Jennie Haskamp, author of 15 Words You Need to Eliminate From Your Vocabulary to Sound Smarter.
1. Always
The danger of using always in your vocabulary is that it locks you into a position. Very rarely does something always happen, and when you use this word you’re setting yourself up for failure—eventually that thing you promised always happens, won’t happen. It’s for this same reason that you should also cut the word never from your vocabulary.
The use of “very” is lazy. It also subjective—what might be “very” cold to you might not be “very” cold to someone else.
2. Literally
Literally means whatever you’re describing happened exactly as stated. While using literally when you mean figuratively is alright when you’re amongst friends, use of literally should be avoided in more formal settings (meetings, presentations, and more). Using literally in formal settings will either lead your audience to believe what you’re saying happened with no exaggerations, or, if your use of literally is obviously a grand exaggeration, then you’ll become known for making minor issues seem like a much bigger deal/problem than they actually are.
3. That
That just takes up space in your writing, and most of the time it’s not needed. Next time you’re updating your resume or writing a presentation and find yourself using the word that in a sentence, re-read the sentence without that and see if it makes sense—chances are it will, and that can be removed.
4. Very
“Very is intended to magnify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. What it does is makes your statement less specific,” says Jennie. “If you’re very happy? Be ecstatic. If you’re very sad, perhaps you’re melancholy or depressed.”
The use of very is lazy. It also subjective—what might be very cold to you might not be very cold to someone else. Next time, use a word that’s stronger more specific in your writing—your points will be clearer, and your audience will be thankful.