Writing Skills: Prefer Understatement

13 July 2011

Written by English Language Skills (Troy)

It may sound counter-intuitive, but using emphatic language can sometimes weaken your argument rather than strengthen your argument. By contrast, understatement has much more persuasive force. Look at the following list of emphatic words and phrases and think about whether you really need them in your writing.

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Think twice about including the following words and phrases in your writing.

absolutely
abundantly
acutely
assuredly
certainly
completely
decidedly
definitely
diametrically
doubtlessly
eminently
emphatically
exactly
extremely
incredibly
indisputably
inevitably
inherently
interestingly
it is obvious that
necessarily
no doubt
obviously
of course
purely
surely
there can be no question that
totally
truly
unduly
unequivocally
unmistakably
unquestionably
very
wholly

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