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Old March 2nd, 2013 #1
Alex Linder
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 45,756
Blog Entries: 34
Default Make Words Bear Weight

Cop says...

People will kill for the most trivial of reasons.

Just say...for trivial reasons. Make it bear the weight of the sentence, of the meaning. Let the people figure out what it means if they don't know. They should know what trivial means.

The mistake is more in using extra words than in using words incorrectly. Still - trust your material, don't gussy it up with extra words.

It's generally stronger to not use very or any formulation amounting to very. It actually has the opposite of the intended effect. It's intended to emphasize but instead it softens.

People will kill for trivial reasons. = strong

People will kill for the most trivial of reasons. = weaker

Same point either way, but more forceful, hence better, the first way.
 
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