Wordy Phrases

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Style Guide for Business and Technical Communication — Stephen

R. Covey

According to the law Legally

Add an additional Add

Add the point that Add that

Afford an opportunity Allow/permit

A great deal of Much

A great number of times More

A large number of Many

A little less than Almost

All of a sudden Suddenly

Along the lines of Like

A majority of Most

A number of Several/many/some

Any one of the two Either

A period of several weeks Several weeks

As a general rule Generally/usually

As a matter of fact In fact

As of now Now

As of this date Today

As regards About

As related to For/about

Assuming that If

As to About

A sufficient number Enough

At a later date Later

At all times Always

At an early date Soon

At hand Here

At present Now

At regular intervals of time Regularly

At that time Then

At the conclusion of After

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At the present time Now

At the rear of Behind

At the same instant Simultaneously

At this time Now

At which time Then

Based on the fact that Because

Beyond a shadow of doubt Doubtless

Brought to a sudden halt Halted

By means of By

By the time that When

By the use of By

By way of illustration For example

Called attention to the fact Reminded/noted

Came to a stop Stopped

Cannot be possible Impossible

Come to an end End

Cost the sum of Cost

Despite the fact that Although

Detailed information Details

Draw to a close End

Due to the fact that Because

During the course of During

During the time that When/while

During which time While

Estimated (roughly) at about Estimated at

Exactly alike Identical

Except in a small number of cases Usually

Exhibit a tendency to Tend to

Expose to elevated temperature Heat

Few in number Few

For a short space of time For a short time

For the purpose of For/to

For the reason that Because/since

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For this reason So

From the point of view of For

From time to time Occasionally

Having reference to this For/about

If and when If/when

If at all possible If possible

If that were the case If so

In accordance with By/under

In addition (to) Also/besides

In a number of cases Many/some

In a position to Can/may

In a satisfactory manner Satisfactorily

In as much as Because/since/as

In back of Behind

In case of If

In close proximity Near/close

In conjunction with With

In consideration of the fact Because

In excess of More than

In favor of For

In few cases/instances Seldom

In lieu of Instead of / In place of

In the light of the fact that Because

In many cases Often

In most cases Usually

In order to To

In other words Or / that is

In rare cases Rarely

In (with) reference to, In regard

to, In respect to About/concerning

In relation to With

In short supply Scarce

In terms of According to

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In the absence of Without

In the amount of Of/for

In the case of For/by/in/if

In the course of During

In the environment of Around/near

In the event of If

In the event that Should/if

In the first place First/primarily

In the instance of For

In the majority of cases Usually

In the matter of About

In the nature of Like

In the near future Soon

In the neighborhood of Near/about

In the proximity of Near/nearly/about/close to

In the vicinity of Around/near/close to

Introduced a new Introduced

In view of the fact that Considering

Involve the necessity of Requires

Is/are in the possession of Has/have

Is defined as Is

Is in the process of making Is making

Is of the opinion that Believes

Is representative of Typifies

Is is apparent that Apparently

It is clear that Clearly

It is evident that Evidently

It is obvious that Obviously

It is often the case that Often

It is plain that Plainly

It is unquestionable that Unquestionably

It would appear that It seems/apparently

Kept an eye on, kept under Watched

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surveillance

Last of all Last

Leaving out of consideration Disregarding

Made an investigation of Investigated

Major portion of Most of

Make application to Apply

Make a purchase Buy

Make contact with Meet/contact

More and more Increasingly

Notwithstanding the fact that Although

Of considerable magnitude Big/large/great/

Off of Off

Of no mean ability Capable

Of small diameter Fine/thin

Of very minor importance Unimportant

On account of Because

On a few occasions Occasionally

On an ongoing basis Continually

On a stretch of road On a road

On behalf of For

Once in a while Seldom/rarely

One after another Alternately

One by one Singly

One part in a hundred One percent

On the basis of By

On the grounds that Because

On teh part of By/for

On two different occasions Twice

Ought to Should

Outside of Except/outside

Owing to the fact that Since/because

Period of time Interval/period

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Pertaining to About

Possibly might Might

Prior to Before

Probed into Probed

Proceed to investigate, control,

study Analyze/study/investigate

Provide a continuous indication of Show continuously

Pursuant to Following

Range all the way from Range from

Reduce to basic essentials Simplified

Refer back Refer

Relative to About

Repeat again Repeat

Reported to the effect Reported

Revise downward Lower/decrease

Seldom if ever Rarely

Separate into two equal parts Halve/divide

Since the time when Since

Started off with Started with

Subsequent to After/following

Take appropriate measures Act

Taking this factor into

consideration Therefore

That is to say That is

The foregoing The/this/that/these/those

The fullest possible extent Mostly/fully completely

The only difference being that Except that

There is no doubt that Doubtless/no doubt

There is no question that Unquestionably

Through the use of By

To be cognizant of To know

To summarize the above In summary

Total operating costs Operating costs

Turn up Turn

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Two by two Paired/in pairs

Until and unless Unless

Until such time Until

Up to now Formerly

Went on to say Added/continued

When and if If

With a view to Intending to

With full approval Approved

Within the realm of possibility Possibly/possible

Without variation Constant/stable

With reference to About

With regard to About/regarding

With respect to About/respecting

With the exception of Except

With the object of To

With the result that So that