One thing I specialize in is whittling down wordiness. You could argue that wordiness is even a pet peeve of mine.
A popular wordiness culprit is the use of the word “now” (and its cousins “currently” and “presently”).Here are some examples:
- You’re reading this blog post right now.
- You’re currently reading this blog post.
Now, technically, these sentences are grammatically fine; they’re just wordy.
See, if you’re speaking in the present tense, using words like “now” or “currently” is redundant. Speaking in the present implies that what you’re saying is in the now or current.
Our sentences could be whittled down to this and still make sense:
- You’re reading this blog post.
- You’re reading this blog post.
Oh, they’re the same. :)
There may be the odd occasion when these words could be useful in making a point, but generally, just let them go.