Vanney Daily English Vol.18 Avoiding clichés

Avoiding clichés (Transcript) What is a cliché? Here are some examples of familiar clichéd expressions: We’re still as sick as a parrot about the result. When it’s all said and done, at the end of the day, I can say I made a difference in the world. The first comes from a newspaper, the second from the transcript of a television news programme. Clichés are words and phrases that have been used so often that they’re no longer very interesting or effective. They may have started out as a colourful, inventive phrase, like as sick as a parrot, but they’ve been picked up and used so widely and indiscriminately that they’ve lost their impact and become stale. Clichés are part of our everyday speech – we often don’t realize that we’re using them. They also occur especially frequently in certain types of writing (such as journalism) or areas of activity (such as sport, business, or politics), as demonstrated by the two examples above. What’s wrong with using clichés? When you’re writing on a more formal level, it’s better to try to avoid using clichés. They tend to annoy people, especially if they’re overused, and they may even create an impression of laziness or a lack of careful thought. Some people just tune out when they hear a cliché and so they may miss the point that you’re trying to make. Here’s a list of some common clichés to look out for and avoid: at the end of the day back on track the fact of the matter few and far between a level playing field in this day and age to all intents and purposes when all’s said and done in the final analysis come full circle par for the course think outside the box avoid someone or something like the plague in the current climate mass exodus at this moment in time the path of least resistance a baptism of fire in any way, shape, or form fit for purpose Action points Once you’ve spotted a cliché in your writing, you need to rephrase your sentence. Here are some tips and strategies to help you do this. 1. Think about what the cliché actually means Think about the basic sense of the expression: what does it actually mean? You’ll probably find that some key words come to mind either as synonyms or as ‘ingredients’ of the overall meaning. Now you can: o use one of these key words to replace the cliché altogether o look them up in a thesaurus to find other alternatives If you find it difficult to come up with the basic meaning, try looking the cliché up in a dictionary. Then you can use the words in the dictionary definition as a starting point for finding suitable synonyms in a thesaurus. 2. Decide whether you actually need the expression at all Quite a lot of clichés are just long-winded ‘fillers’, i.e. words or groups of words used just to maintain the flow of speech, or to pad out a speech or piece of writing. If you identify a clichéd expression of this sort, you can just remove it altogether. Wordy, overused phrases might increase the length of a piece of writing but they won’t improve its general quality. 3. Rewrite your sentence Here are some examples of how you might go about replacing clichés in your writing. First you’ll see a sentence containing a cliché (in bold). The second column gives its meaning, with key words highlighted in bold, the third gives some suggestions for how to take action, and in the final column the original sentence is rewritten without the cliché. Original sentence Meaning or key words Suggestions for action Rewritten sentence In this day and age, websites are one of the most significant public faces of any organization. nowadays, today use one of the key words instead, or look them up in a thesaurus Today, websites are one of the most significant public faces of any organization. Key points While you probably can’t avoid clichés altogether, remember: Clichés can be a barrier to communication and clear expression. Clichés can often be reduced to just one or two words that convey your meaning in a clearer or more original way. Clichés can sometimes be removed completely without the meaning of a sentence being affected. This guide on how and why to avoid cliches is taken from our Writing Skills section on the premium version of Oxford Dictionaries Online. Featuring accurate and clear guidance on grammar, spelling, and punctuation, the Writing Skills section also has indispensable advice on style and usage, including help on selecting the correct level of language for different situations. REF. http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/avoiding-cliches/