I had a business writing professor who hated certain words and phrases. She was an awesome instructor and I often refer to her teachings when I need to speak properly – which is all the time. She did all she could to help her students sound intelligent and well spoken. It has been a few years since college, so I don’t remember a lot of the things I learned, but here are a couple of items I find useful to this day.
One phrase she counseled us to never use is “due to.” She considered this phrase an easy and lazy method of writing. If you read and pay any attention to the words you see, you will see “due to” overused in writings of all kinds — news media, social media, books and other written content. Now, I cannot stop seeing the excessive use of those words.
Another piece of advice she gave us is to simplify our speech and writing. Words like “utilize” serve no purpose other than for the user to try to look smart. Instead, the word “use” gets the job done and is much simpler.
If you are tuned in to this subject and have your own likes and dislikes, please share them with me at dcopeland@businesspeople.com.
