| Long ago I lost count of the number of papers, reports, | | | | "Why?" |
| essays, articles, letters, posts, memoranda and | | | | You'd explain further to get yet another "Why?" and |
| compositions I've read over the years. As a professor | | | | so on ad infinitum. |
| of English as a foreign language for the past two | | | | Whenever you though would ask, "Why?" the answer |
| decades, Reading is something I do daily and for long | | | | you'd likely get is, "Because ..." |
| hours at that. Even so, there are some redundancies | | | | "Because what, honey? |
| that crop up almost continually during the course of my | | | | "Just because ..." |
| reading and sometimes even my writing that I'd like to | | | | With alarming frequency though, many EFL learners |
| share. | | | | develop the same response, using "just" annexed into |
| These are what I believe to be seven of the most | | | | sentences without cause. Even some |
| over-used words in English in both the written and | | | | native-English-speaking adults still do it. |
| spoken forms. In the vast majority of instances where | | | | Really |
| these words appear, or are spoken, they could be | | | | Used to modify an adjective is the most common |
| completely eliminated with virtually no loss in meaning | | | | form of applying "really", "very", "pretty" and "fairly" into |
| or comprehension of the sentence or spoken | | | | a form of written or spoken English language |
| discourse. | | | | discourse. It could also be used as a confirmation |
| That | | | | marker: |
| The relative pronouns who, that or which form much | | | | "I'm finished all my homework, Mom" |
| of the basis for relative pronoun clause sentences | | | | "Really?" (Mom wants confirmation, she doesn't believe |
| used with such frequency in the English language. | | | | her son) |
| When combining two sentences into one, they are | | | | The problem comes in when "really" is annexed onto |
| indispensable for clarity however. | | | | almost everything said or written. It becomes |
| *For example: A writer is a person who (or that) | | | | over-used, redundant and losses effectiveness. |
| prepares articles, stories and books. | | | | Quite |
| Remember: Basically, the relative pronoun "who" is | | | | This one I hear extensively over-used on the part of |
| used for a person or people, "that" is used for people | | | | both my American English and British English-speaking |
| or a thing and "which" is used for things and animals. | | | | friends and co-workers. Sometimes it just drives me |
| So | | | | nuts. In the vast majority of cases, this word too, could |
| As a sequential connector indicating a resulting action | | | | be pulled with no resulting loss in meaning or |
| or stage in a sequence so, or any of the other | | | | comprehension. |
| connectors such as and, or, so, have grammatical | | | | The |
| function. And, you can even begin a sentence with | | | | The use of the definite and indefinite articles is a |
| "and" but it's often redundant to do so as was just | | | | distinctive problem with Romance family language |
| illustrated. | | | | speakers and learners, as Spanish and French for |
| And | | | | example, make frequent use of these articles, but |
| There's an unsurprising tendency to stick an "and" onto | | | | English does not. Getting EFL, English as a foreign |
| the end of a sentence to allow you to just keep going. | | | | language or ESL, English as a second language |
| There is no "longest possible sentence" in English. You | | | | learners to understand the application and use of the |
| could, by the use of connectors or conjunctions like | | | | articles in English can be a real challenge. |
| "and", just keep going and going and going with a | | | | These seven words and some additional |
| sentence in English. Traversing your way from a | | | | accompanying lexis are what I believe to be some of |
| simple sentence to a compound sentence through | | | | the most over-used words in English in both the written |
| complex sentences which seem to never end, but it's | | | | and spoken forms. In the vast majority of instances |
| not good practice to do so. | | | | where these words appear, or are used, they could be |
| Just | | | | removed with no loss in meaning or comprehension. |
| Remember how you or a child just kept asking "why" | | | | Notice how often you see them used in writing or hear |
| in answer to an explanation? | | | | them used in spoken discourse and I'm sure you'll see |
| "Why is the sky blue?" you'd be asked. | | | | just what I mean. |
| You'd explain to some degree then get the response - | | | | |