Jul 14 2008

Writing Tip of the Day: Don’t Start Sentences with Empty Interjections

Published by Cadet Davis at 9:24 pm under Word Choice, Writing Articles

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Empty interjections, like the word “well,” should rarely start a sentence. As a rule, if you can take out the first word of a sentence, it’s probably a good idea to do so. You should never waste words, but it’s particularly dangerous to do so at the beginning of sentences.

Here are some common offenders:

  1. Well
  2. You know
  3. Yeah
  4. Oh
  5. Like
  6. Umm
  7. OK
  8. I mean
  9. Seriously

3 Responses to “Writing Tip of the Day: Don’t Start Sentences with Empty Interjections”

  1. timon 15 Jul 2008 at 7:38 pm

    Well, you’ve seriously hit the nail on the head. I mean, Ok, sometimes you can get away with using them. Umm, y’know what I mean? :)

  2. Melissa H.on 02 Sep 2008 at 9:03 am

    These words have their uses. Consider this:

    : “Well . . . yeah,” he said.

    Many of your list are so-called “stall words,” and that’s precisely because we use them to stall conversation for a moment. Perhaps he wants to consider before answering, or he just doesn’t want to answer.

    You could tap-dance around it.

    : He hesitated. “Yeah.”

    But why?

    In real life, people use stall words left and right. I wouldn’t have a character use them pointlessly, but they’re a good way to show that a character is stalling, and dialogue entirely free of them would be unnatural.

    “Like” is a topic in itself.

  3. B. Macon 02 Sep 2008 at 10:45 am

    Ah, that’s a good point. These interjections can sometimes have a purpose (like affecting the pacing). But I think that these words are almost always used without any particular goal in mind. I’d recommend sparing use.

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