Conventions of Composition Rule 218
Conventions of Composition Rule 218
Rule: Own your statements. Qualifiers weaken your writing.
Examples:
Weak: Proctor feels mostly conflicted about Abigail.
Better: Proctor feels conflicted about Abigail.
Weak: Sula truly goes away for ten years.
Better: Sula goes away for ten years.
Practice eliminating qualifiers from these sentences:
- Wes's life imprisonment feels like a really long time.
- Nick wants, I think, to go to Gatsby's party.
- Blanche's somewhat troubling past comes to light over the whole, long course of her visit to New Orleans.
- Iago pretends to be very supportive while he actually plots against Othello at almost every step.
Resources for further explanation of how to identify and eliminate qualifiers from your writing:
Scribendi's How to Eliminate Wordiness in Your Writing
Constant Content's Eliminating Wordiness: Qualifiers