I've been editing the writing of marketing and PR professionals and other business executives for more than two decades. I just did the math. At a conservative rate of an article a day … that's close to 5,000 (!) articles.

All that editing has helped me develop my Spidey senses about common writing problems that plague us all. Too often we sacrifice clarity on the altar of sounding “professional.” And the next thing you know, wordiness, conformity, clichés, take a running start.… All the things we've talked about so far all pile into the canoe and swamp our writing completely.

A while ago, I began keeping a list of the more common mistakes. Here are the top 18 followed by their anti-wordiness, anti-fuzzy-thinking, pro-brevity, pro-clarity equivalents.

Swap the word(s) on the right for those on the left and you'll feel instantly smarter and more succinct:

1. Ways by which > Ways
2. Continues to be > Remains
3. In order to > To (especially at the beginning of a sentence)
4. There (are) will be times when > Sometimes, At times
5. Despite the fact that > Although, Though
6. At which time > When
7. In spite of > Despite
8. When it comes to > In, When
9. The majority of > Most
10. A number of > Some, Few, Several, Many, Various (or often you don't need to use any word at all)
11. When asked > Asked
12. Leverage (as verb) > Use (or Put to use), Harness, Apply
13. The same level of > As much
14. While (if not being used to mean during or at the same time as) > Although or Though, Whereas
15. Moving forward > Later, In the future, From now on
16. Centered around > Centered on
17. Try and [verb] = Try to [verb]
18. Should of > Should have

Other common issues and errors:

• Keep your verb tense consistent. Avoid time traveling—or switching around between present, future, past tenses.
• I versus me. “I” sounds highfalutin and “correct.” It's often not. How to know which to use: Eliminate the other person's name. Does the sentence still make sense?

  Instead of: Annie went to get ice cream with Daddy Warbucks and I.

  Try: Annie went to get ice cream with Daddy Warbucks and me.

  Why this works: Pretend Warbucks wasn't with Annie. “Annie went to get ice cream with I” is weird. Use me.

• However and independent clauses. If you use however to join two independent clauses or sentences, use a semicolon—not a comma—before “however.”

  As in: Annie loves Chunky Monkey ice cream; however, she wonders if those stomach cramps signal a lactose intolerance.

  Better yet, keep it simple: Annie loves Chunky Monkey ice cream, but she wonders if those stomach cramps signal a lactose intolerance.

• Not only [this] … but also [that]. Not only–but also are connecting phrases used in pairs—otherwise known as correlative conjunctions.

  They work best when the two things match—in other words, when [this] and [that] are the same kind of thing. They are both verbs, nouns, prepositional phrases, and so on. If they aren't the same, your reader will be confused.

  Why? Our brains look for patterns—rhythm, rhyme, repetition, or (in this case) a parallel structure. Patterns help us make sense of the world.

  Instead of: Not only will your writing educate readers, but it will also entertain them.

  Try: Your writing will not only educate [verb] readers [object] but also entertain [verb] them [object].

  Why this works: In this case, you need a verb and its object to directly follow not only and but also to create a parallel pattern.

• Be sure the verb can do what you’re asking it to do.

  Instead of: Warbucks Industries saw a 10% jump in the market share of both artillery shells and cat food.

  Try: The market share of Warbucks Industries jumped 10% in both artillery shells and cat food.

  Why this works: Can a product or company actually see anything? Does it have eyes? No, it doesn't. But we do, so we can see how silly it is to write that an inanimate object saw something.

• Increase/Increase by. Increase 10% and increase by 10% mean the same thing. Use the shorter version unless it sounds awkward to your ear.
• In terms of. Cut this one completely. Rethink what you want to say, and then recast the sentence to eliminate those three extra words.

  Instead of: Lactose issues aside, that ice cream cone is a good deal, in terms of the $3 price.

  Try: Lactose issues aside, that ice cream cone is a good deal at $3.

• This, that, these, those. The use of these words can often create confusion: Which “this” or “these” are we referring to?

  Avoid using this, that, these, or those at the beginning of a sentence, especially, because they can cause total chaos. If you use one of them, add a clarification or reference. I did it at the beginning of this paragraph “the use of these words.”

  Instead of: What credible source supports your theory? Are there examples, data, real-world stories you can cite? Those are crucial for building your argument.

  Try: What credible source supports your theory? Are there examples, data, real-world stories you can cite? Those sources are crucial for building your argument.

  Why this works: It's not clear what those in the first example is referring to. Is it the kinds of sources mentioned? Is it the questions themselves?

• Hyphens after adverbs ending in -ly. If your adverb ends in -ly, don't use a hyphen after the adverb. You don't need one. (Unless you're British, in which case you have your own ideas about the English language.)

  Instead of: This is an extremely-simple mistake to fix.

  Try: This is an extremely simple mistake to fix.

* * *

Wouldn't your editor catch these mistakes anyway? Probably. But eliminating them first makes you look and feel smarter—and 42% more attractive.

It also allows you to turn your piece into your editor saying something like … “The piece is ready for editing. But please do be kind enough to review the antecedents and correlative conjunctions.”

Why I imagine you speaking like a hostess at a country club … I don't know. But that's the voice I imagine you use when you boast about your error-free text that sparkles with its parallel constructions and verb tenses that match like mixed-doubles tennis outfits on the court.