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:

1. Wes's life imprisonment feels like a really long time.
2. Nick wants, I think, to go to Gatsby's party.
3. Blanche's somewhat troubling past comes to light over the whole, long course of her visit to New Orleans.
4. 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