Not quite sure how to feel on this one. Sure these unnecessary qualifiers sneak into statements all of the time, like "quite" in the first sentence. Would the opening be stronger without it? Sure. But it lends a somewhat conversational tone. It betrays the writer as uncertain of themselves, like the "somewhat" in the previous sentence. This is important information to convey -- indirectly, as you put it in an earlier article.
Yes, qualifiers should be omitted with a vengeance. It's fun to observe how Bridget Jones' diary took the half measure of abbreviating all of the "very"s to "v." littered throughout the text to address this.
On the other hand, we could do more succinctification by accepting verbing. "We enjoy moviegoing" ... or even "movieing". The Germanification of our language shall continue! It will be v. beautiful. The concising.
This is true. "Voice" is one of the big considerations when editing. I want to make my writing succinct but not take out the conversational style that I think of as my "shelf life voice." It's just important to be aware of it so you can distinguish between different voices that you write in.
Not quite sure how to feel on this one. Sure these unnecessary qualifiers sneak into statements all of the time, like "quite" in the first sentence. Would the opening be stronger without it? Sure. But it lends a somewhat conversational tone. It betrays the writer as uncertain of themselves, like the "somewhat" in the previous sentence. This is important information to convey -- indirectly, as you put it in an earlier article.
Yes, qualifiers should be omitted with a vengeance. It's fun to observe how Bridget Jones' diary took the half measure of abbreviating all of the "very"s to "v." littered throughout the text to address this.
On the other hand, we could do more succinctification by accepting verbing. "We enjoy moviegoing" ... or even "movieing". The Germanification of our language shall continue! It will be v. beautiful. The concising.
This is true. "Voice" is one of the big considerations when editing. I want to make my writing succinct but not take out the conversational style that I think of as my "shelf life voice." It's just important to be aware of it so you can distinguish between different voices that you write in.