Vol. 03 · Better ways200 guides
The tired phrase, the sharper word.
Better ways to say it.
Phrases that have quietly crept into your writing — and the stronger words to swap in. Each guide gives you 5–8 alternatives, the register to pick from, and one rule to keep.
No. 01 28 guides
A
- “A large number of” Four words for "many" or a count. → 5 alternatives
- “A lot of” The empty-calorie quantifier. → 6 alternatives
- “A number of” Vague where "several" or a real count would do. → 4 alternatives
- “Absolutely essential” "Essential" already means indispensable. → 4 alternatives
- “across the board” A horse-racing term (covering win, place, and show bets) now meaning "in every category." → 4 alternatives
- “Actionable” A MBA word for "you can act on this." → 4 alternatives
- “Added bonus” A bonus is, by nature, added. → 4 alternatives
- “Align on” Meeting-speak for "agree." → 4 alternatives
- “All hands on deck” A nautical metaphor for "everyone's working on this." → 3 alternatives
- “All in all” A soft summary opener. → 4 alternatives
- “all things considered” A hedge that promises a full accounting and rarely delivers. → 4 alternatives
- “apropos” French for "to the purpose" — a pivot word for "by the way". → 4 alternatives
- “As a matter of fact” Five words of throat-clearing before "in fact." → 4 alternatives
- “as it were” A literary hedge — "if one may put it that way". → 4 alternatives
- “as of now” Three words that seldom add more than "now" would alone. → 4 alternatives
- “As per” Latin-in-a-suit for "according to." → 4 alternatives
- “As you know” Three words that often hide an assumption. → 3 alternatives
- “at any rate” A pivot that means "anyway" with extra syllables. → 4 alternatives
- “at face value” A numismatic metaphor — take the coin for its stamped amount. → 4 alternatives
- “At scale” Two words carrying a lot of loose meaning. → 4 alternatives
- “At that point in time” Five words for "then." → 4 alternatives
- “at the eleventh hour” A biblical idiom (Matthew 20) now meaning "late, but just in time." → 4 alternatives
- “At the end of the day” The boardroom's favourite shrug. → 5 alternatives
- “at the moment” A three-word way to say "now," common in British English. → 4 alternatives
- “At the same time” Four words for "also" — or "but." → 5 alternatives
- “At this point in time” A mouthful for "now." → 5 alternatives
- “at your discretion” A polite way of saying "your call" — common in contracts and corporate memos. → 4 alternatives
- “At your earliest convenience” Polite pressure dressed as deference. → 4 alternatives
No. 02 25 guides
B — D
- “Ballpark” Baseball slang for "approximate." → 4 alternatives
- “Bandwidth” Network jargon turned into meeting-speak for "time" or "capacity." → 4 alternatives
- “Basically” Filler dressed as simplification. → 4 alternatives
- “be that as it may” A subjunctive-era concession marker — roughly, "fine, but". → 4 alternatives
- “Bespoke” Savile Row word borrowed into SaaS. → 4 alternatives
- “Best-in-class” A marketing claim with no teeth. → 4 alternatives
- “boil the ocean” Consultant shorthand for attempting an impossibly broad task. → 4 alternatives
- “broadly speaking” A qualifier that licences a generalisation. → 4 alternatives
- “By means of” Three words where "by," "through," or "with" fits. → 4 alternatives
- “by the same token” An old metaphor — a token was a tavern IOU — meaning "by the same reasoning". → 4 alternatives
- “By virtue of” Formal throat-clearing for "because" or "through." → 4 alternatives
- “Circle back” The meeting's best-loved dodge. → 4 alternatives
- “circling back” Corporate speak for "following up" — borrowed from aviation. → 4 alternatives
- “Completely destroyed” "Destroyed" already means all of it. → 4 alternatives
- “Curate” A museum verb that ate content. → 4 alternatives
- “Customer-centric” A claim every company makes. → 4 alternatives
- “Cutting-edge” Marketing-speak for "new." → 4 alternatives
- “Data-driven” The default adjective of the last decade. → 4 alternatives
- “Deep dive” A slide title looking for a verb. → 5 alternatives
- “Despite the fact that” Four words for "although." → 5 alternatives
- “Disrupt” A Clayton Christensen term, now a deck slide. → 4 alternatives
- “Do the needful” Vague politeness in place of a verb. → 4 alternatives
- “Double-click on” Meeting-room jargon for "go deeper on." → 4 alternatives
- “Due to the fact that” A six-word wind-up for "because." → 5 alternatives
- “During the time that” Four words for "while." → 4 alternatives
No. 03 21 guides
E — H
- “Each and every” A redundancy that sounds like emphasis. → 4 alternatives
- “End result” A result, by definition, is at the end. → 4 alternatives
- “End-to-end” A useful phrase, badly inflated. → 4 alternatives
- “First and foremost” A speechwriter's warm-up move. → 4 alternatives
- “For all intents and purposes” Six-word way of saying "basically." → 5 alternatives
- “For the purpose of” Four words for "to." → 4 alternatives
- “for the record” A phrase borrowed from court transcripts, now used to stake a position in meetings. → 4 alternatives
- “for what it's worth” A pre-emptive apology for the sentence about to arrive. → 4 alternatives
- “frankly” A candour marker that implicitly confesses the rest of your writing wasn't. → 4 alternatives
- “Free gift” A gift, by definition, is free. → 4 alternatives
- “from the ground up” A builder's metaphor worn smooth by startup decks. → 4 alternatives
- “Game-changer” A noun so overused it barely means anything. → 4 alternatives
- “Generally speaking” Two words for a hedge. → 4 alternatives
- “Given the fact that” Four words for "since." → 4 alternatives
- “Go down a rabbit hole” A Lewis Carroll metaphor for "get distracted." → 4 alternatives
- “Go the extra mile” A Biblical metaphor worn thin. → 4 alternatives
- “Going forward” The corporate way to say "next." → 4 alternatives
- “Hard stop” Meeting-room for "I must leave at X." → 3 alternatives
- “Having said that” Three words where one conjunction fits. → 4 alternatives
- “Hit the ground running” A military metaphor for "start fast." → 4 alternatives
- “Holistic” A word imported from wellness into corporate strategy. → 4 alternatives
No. 04 31 guides
I
- “I hope this email finds you well” A friendly wrapper, frequently unearned. → 4 alternatives
- “I just want to” Three words of pre-apology. → 4 alternatives
- “I think” Two words that can soften every claim that follows. → 4 alternatives
- “I would like to” Four words before the verb that does the work. → 3 alternatives
- “if you will” A tentative hedge — "if you'll permit the term". → 4 alternatives
- “in a nutshell” A Roman-era metaphor (Pliny's Iliad in a walnut) for compressed summary. → 4 alternatives
- “In any case” Three words for "anyway." → 4 alternatives
- “In close contact” A three-word stretch for "near" or "in touch." → 3 alternatives
- “In close proximity to” Four words for "near." → 4 alternatives
- “in lieu of” French for "in the place of" — three words for "instead of". → 4 alternatives
- “in light of” A formal "because of" that lets evidence illuminate a decision. → 4 alternatives
- “In light of the fact that” Six words for "since." → 4 alternatives
- “In my opinion” A hedge the reader already assumes. → 5 alternatives
- “In my view” Three words for "I think." → 4 alternatives
- “In order to” Three words where one would do. → 5 alternatives
- “In other words” A three-word admission that the first version didn't land. → 4 alternatives
- “In practice” A transition that needs specifics. → 4 alternatives
- “In regard to” Close cousin of "with regard to" — same overhead. → 4 alternatives
- “In relation to” Another three-word stall. → 4 alternatives
- “In terms of” A bureaucrat's favourite pivot. → 5 alternatives
- “In the event that” Four words for "if." → 5 alternatives
- “in the long run” A forward-looking hedge made famous by Keynes's rebuttal: "in the long run we are all dead." → 4 alternatives
- “in the meantime” Padding for the gap between now and later — "meanwhile" handles it in one word. → 4 alternatives
- “In the process of” Six words where one verb form will do. → 4 alternatives
- “In the weeds” Restaurant-service slang for "overwhelmed in detail." → 4 alternatives
- “In theory” A hedge that often really means "in practice, no." → 4 alternatives
- “Irregardless” "Regardless" with an extra, contradicting syllable. → 4 alternatives
- “It goes without saying” Five words that admit they're not needed. → 4 alternatives
- “It is important to note that” Five words before the actual point. → 5 alternatives
- “It should be noted that” Passive voice warming up to a point. → 4 alternatives
- “Iterate” A maths term for "do it again." → 4 alternatives
No. 05 15 guides
J — N
- “Kindly” An imperative in formal dress. → 4 alternatives
- “Leverage” A finance term that ate English. → 4 alternatives
- “like I said” A conversational crutch that signals repetition — and sometimes impatience. → 4 alternatives
- “Literally” The intensifier that ate its own meaning. → 5 alternatives
- “Long story short” A prelude that rarely shortens the story. → 4 alternatives
- “Loop in” Meeting-room for "tell them." → 4 alternatives
- “Low-hanging fruit” The orchard metaphor that ate the meeting. → 4 alternatives
- “Make no mistake” A political throat-clearing phrase. → 4 alternatives
- “Mission-critical” A compound adjective for "important." → 4 alternatives
- “More or less” Three words for a hedge. → 4 alternatives
- “Move the needle” A gauge no one can actually see. → 4 alternatives
- “Moving forward” Two words for "from now on." → 4 alternatives
- “Myself” A reflexive pretending to be a subject. → 3 alternatives
- “Needless to say” If it's needless, why say it? → 5 alternatives
- “Notwithstanding the fact that” Six words doing what "although" does. → 4 alternatives
No. 06 33 guides
O — S
- “On account of” Three words for "because." → 4 alternatives
- “on the other hand” A pivot-cliché that often marks a rhetorical balance more than a real one. → 4 alternatives
- “On the same page” Meeting-speak for "we agree." → 4 alternatives
- “On the subject of” Four words for "on" or "about." → 4 alternatives
- “one way or another” A determined-sounding phrase that hides the plan. → 4 alternatives
- “Optimize” A math word soaking through every corner of business writing. → 4 alternatives
- “Owing to the fact that” Five words trying to be "because." → 4 alternatives
- “Paradigm shift” Thomas Kuhn's term, now a synonym for "change." → 4 alternatives
- “Parking lot” Meeting-speak for "set this aside." → 4 alternatives
- “Past history” All history is past. → 4 alternatives
- “per se” Latin for "by itself" — overused in English as a half-hedge. → 4 alternatives
- “Ping” Tech slang for "send a quick message." → 4 alternatives
- “Please find attached” Email language from 1998. → 4 alternatives
- “Prior to” Three letters of attitude over "before." → 5 alternatives
- “Proactive” A self-help word pretending to be advice. → 4 alternatives
- “Pursuant to” Two words doing what "under" does in one. → 5 alternatives
- “Quick win” Manager-speak for "easy and visible." → 4 alternatives
- “Raise the bar” An Olympic metaphor for "do better." → 4 alternatives
- “Reach out” A two-word phrase replacing "email" or "call." → 4 alternatives
- “rest assured” A corporate reassurance phrase that often reads like a customer-service script. → 4 alternatives
- “Revert back” A redundancy — "revert" already means "go back." → 4 alternatives
- “Robust” A strong word that gets weaker with use. → 4 alternatives
- “Scalable” The default adjective of the last decade. → 4 alternatives
- “Seamless” A word to describe things that do have seams. → 4 alternatives
- “so to speak” A hedge that marks a metaphor you're half-committed to. → 4 alternatives
- “Sort of” A hedge that weakens every sentence it touches. → 4 alternatives
- “Speaking of which” Conversational connector out of place in writing. → 4 alternatives
- “State-of-the-art” A four-word way to say "current." → 4 alternatives
- “Streamline” A 1930s aerodynamics word for "simplify." → 4 alternatives
- “strictly speaking” A flag that a literal reading is about to correct a loose one. → 4 alternatives
- “Subsequent to” A long Latinate "after." → 4 alternatives
- “Sunset” Product-speak for "retire" or "end." → 4 alternatives
- “Synergy” A merger-era buzzword that won't retire. → 4 alternatives
No. 07 46 guides
T — Z
- “Table stakes” A poker term for "the minimum to play." → 4 alternatives
- “take a step back” A stock phrase for "let's think about this at a higher level." → 4 alternatives
- “Take it offline” Meeting-speak for "discuss separately." → 4 alternatives
- “Taking into account” A three-word preamble you can usually cut. → 4 alternatives
- “That said” A pivot that's fine — until it's every pivot. → 4 alternatives
- “The bottom line” Accounting jargon that wandered off. → 5 alternatives
- “the devil is in the details” A mangling of "God is in the details" — now cliché for "the details trip you up". → 4 alternatives
- “The elephant in the room” A worn metaphor for "the thing nobody is saying." → 4 alternatives
- “The fact that” Padding around a noun clause. → 2 alternatives
- “The reason is because” A causal sentence, said twice. → 3 alternatives
- “Think outside the box” A cliché about avoiding clichés. → 4 alternatives
- “Thought leader” A status claim with no edges. → 4 alternatives
- “TL;DR” Internet shorthand for "summary." → 4 alternatives
- “to be fair” A concession-maker that occasionally earns its keep. → 4 alternatives
- “To be honest” Three words that imply previous dishonesty. → 3 alternatives
- “to cut to the chase” Hollywood jargon for skipping to the action scene — now jargon for skipping to the point. → 4 alternatives
- “to date” Common in business writing; "so far" is usually shorter and warmer. → 4 alternatives
- “To my knowledge” Three words that soften a claim. → 4 alternatives
- “Touch base” A baseball metaphor that lost the game. → 4 alternatives
- “Touch on” Two words for "mention briefly." → 4 alternatives
- “Truth be told” A confession phrase that implies prior lying. → 4 alternatives
- “Turnkey” A sales adjective for "ready." → 4 alternatives
- “under advisement” Legal and parliamentary jargon for "we'll think about it" — often a polite stall. → 4 alternatives
- “Unpack” A metaphor tired from overuse in analysis writing. → 4 alternatives
- “Until such time as” Four words for "until." → 3 alternatives
- “Utilize” A bigger word for a smaller one. → 5 alternatives
- “Value-add” Consultant-speak for "useful" or "benefit." → 5 alternatives
- “Very angry” Two words for a single strong verb or adjective. → 5 alternatives
- “Very big” Two words for a single vivid adjective. → 5 alternatives
- “Very fast” Two words for a single vivid adjective. → 5 alternatives
- “Very good” Two words pulling one word's weight. → 6 alternatives
- “Very happy” Two words where one warmer adjective works better. → 5 alternatives
- “Very important” Two words where one sharper word fits. → 5 alternatives
- “Very new” Two words for a single vivid adjective. → 5 alternatives
- “Very old” Two words for one sharper adjective. → 5 alternatives
- “Very small” A doubled adjective waiting for a sharper one. → 5 alternatives
- “Very tired” A small sentence begging for a single adjective. → 5 alternatives
- “vis-à-vis” French for "face-to-face" — now a preposition that usually means "regarding" or "compared with". → 4 alternatives
- “when all is said and done” A closing flourish that means "after everything" — often padding before a plain statement. → 4 alternatives
- “when push comes to shove” A worn idiom for "under real pressure". → 4 alternatives
- “Whether or not” Two extra words, rarely earning their keep. → 4 alternatives
- “With regard to” The memo-writer's reflex. → 5 alternatives
- “With respect to” Three words for the job of one preposition. → 5 alternatives
- “with that in mind” A transition that signals thought without doing much thinking. → 4 alternatives
- “Without a doubt” Three words for emphasis that usually overstate. → 4 alternatives
- “World-class” A two-word claim few can defend. → 4 alternatives