# Extended Phrase Reference

## Throat-Clearing Openers

Remove these announcement phrases. State the content directly.

- "Here's the thing:"
- "Here's what [X]" / "Here's this" / "Here's why"
- "The uncomfortable truth is"
- "It turns out"
- "The real [X] is"
- "Let me be clear"
- "The truth is,"
- "I'll say it again:"
- "I'm going to be honest"
- "Can we talk about"
- "Here's what I find interesting"
- "Here's the problem though"

Any "here's what/this/that" construction announces the point instead of making it. Cut it.

## Emphasis Crutches

These add no meaning. Delete them.

- "Full stop." / "Period."
- "Let that sink in."
- "This matters because"
- "Make no mistake"
- "Here's why that matters"

## Business Jargon

| Avoid | Use instead |
|-------|-------------|
| Navigate (challenges) | Handle, address |
| Unpack (analysis) | Explain, examine |
| Lean into | Accept, embrace |
| Landscape (context) | Situation, field |
| Game-changer | Significant, important |
| Double down | Commit, increase |
| Deep dive | Analysis, examination |
| Take a step back | Reconsider |
| Moving forward | Next, from now |
| Circle back | Return to, revisit |
| On the same page | Aligned, agreed |

## Adverbs

Kill all adverbs. No -ly words. No softeners, intensifiers, or hedges.

Specific offenders: really, just, literally, genuinely, honestly, simply, actually, deeply, truly, fundamentally, inherently, inevitably, interestingly, importantly, crucially

Filler phrases:
- "At its core"
- "In today's [X]"
- "It's worth noting"
- "At the end of the day"
- "When it comes to"
- "In a world where"
- "The reality is"

## Meta-Commentary

Remove self-referential asides. The essay should move, not announce its own structure.

- "Hint:" / "Plot twist:" / "Spoiler:"
- "You already know this, but"
- "But that's another post"
- "The rest of this essay explains..."
- "Let me walk you through..."
- "In this section, we'll..."
- "As we'll see..."
- "I want to explore..."

## Vague Declaratives

Sentences that announce importance without naming the specific thing. Replace with the specific thing.

- "The reasons are structural"
- "The implications are significant"
- "This is the deepest problem"
- "The stakes are high"
- "The consequences are real"
- "This is genuinely hard"
- "This is what leadership actually looks like"

## Binary Contrast Structures

AI defaults to "not X, it's Y" framing. State Y directly without the contrast scaffolding.

- "Not because X. Because Y." -- just state Y
- "The answer isn't X. It's Y." -- state Y
- "It's not about X. It's about Y." -- state Y
- "stops being X and starts being Y" -- say what it becomes
- "less about X and more about Y" -- say what it's about
- "X gives way to Y" -- state the current state
- "from X to Y" (false ranges) -- name the specific thing
- "Beyond X, there's Y" -- state Y directly
- "X, yes. But Y." -- state both as facts
- "It's not just X -- it's Y" -- state Y
- "The real X isn't Y -- it's Z" -- state Z

## Lazy Extremes

False authority through sweeping claims. Use specifics instead.

- "every", "always", "never", "everyone", "everybody", "nobody"
- "No one has ever..." / "Everyone knows..." / "This always happens"

These sound confident but say nothing. Name the specific cases, people, or frequency.

## Negative Listing

Listing what something is *not* before revealing what it *is*. A rhetorical striptease.

- "Not a X... Not a Y... A Z." -- state Z directly
- "It wasn't X. It wasn't Y. It was Z." -- the reader doesn't need the runway

## Dramatic Fragmentation

Sentence fragments for manufactured profundity. Complete sentences. Trust content over presentation.

- "[Noun]. That's it. That's the [thing]." -- performative simplicity
- "X. And Y. And Z." -- staccato drama
- "This unlocks something. [Word]." -- artificial revelation
- "Not always. Not perfectly." -- hedging disguised as reassurance

## Formulaic Constructions

- "By the time X, I was Y." -- narrative template, restructure
- "X that isn't Y" -- say "X is broken" directly

## Narrator-from-a-Distance

Floating above the scene instead of putting the reader in it.

- "Nobody designed this." -- disembodied observation
- "This happens because..." -- lecturer voice
- "This is why..." -- same
- "People tend to..." -- armchair sociologist

Put the reader in the room. "You don't sit down and decide to..." beats "Nobody designed this."

## Performative Emphasis

False intimacy or manufactured sincerity:

- "creeps in"
- "I promise" / "They exist, I promise"

## Telling Instead of Showing

Announcing difficulty or significance rather than demonstrating it:

- "This is what X actually looks like"
- "actually matters"
- "This is genuinely hard"

If something is hard or significant, show the specific constraint. Don't announce it.

## Rhythm

- Three-item lists: use two items or one. Triads are an AI tell.
- Questions answered immediately: let questions breathe or cut them.

## Sentence Starters to Avoid

- Sentences starting with What/When/Where/Which/Who/Why/How -- restructure, lead with the subject or verb
- Paragraphs starting with "So" -- start with content
- Sentences starting with "Look," -- remove