Minimize Intensifiers

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You can almost always cut out intensifiers, words such as very, really, quite, totally, completely, definitely, just, and so. These words carry over from speech habits. When speaking, people use them with vocal stress.

The REALLY terrible storm ripped across the bay and TOTALLY destroyed business buildings and homes when it hit shore. The result was VERY disastrous: SO MUCH wreckage, SO MANY helpless people, SO MANY lost dreams. To see it was REALLY disturbing

In writing, stress comes from using powerful words, not from using vacant intensifiers. In fact, intensifiers seem to "de-intensify" by distracting from more muscular words. If we simply remove the intensifiers from the previous passage, what have we lost?

The terrible storm ripped across the bay and destroyed business buildings and homes when it hit shore. The result was disastrous: wreckage, helpless people, lost dreams. To see it was disturbing.

Once the intensifiers have been cut out, you can clearly see what you've read. You can also see sections that might be stronger with more detail because you will notice empty spaces. For example, the second sentence seems to move forward with quick bursts of information, but as readers do we have a clear sense of what this scene looks like? With added details, this passage can be much more dramatic.

Original Minus Intensifiers: The result was disastrous: wreckage, helpless people, lost dreams.

Possible Revision: The result was disastrous: wreckage floating in the flooded streets, helpless people clinging to each other on high ground and rooftops, and lost dreams that seemed to be carried away with the biting winds.

These images paint a picture that we will not forget as quickly. Now take a look at your own writing, and see where you can eliminate intensifiers and add more vivid details.