The Swear List The following words and phrases are hereby considered SWEARS and should not be used in your writing:

The Informal Swears: You (second person) I/me/my/we/us (first person) Kid/kids (they’re baby goats, not people) This quote… (“quote” is a verb, “quotation” is a noun!) Indecisive language: maybe, possibly, etc. Dad/mom, etc. Use the formal term: father/mother

Informal Swears Continued: Anything that is considered an abbreviation or slang (like lol, gonna, etc.). For example: Cuz/’cause meaning “because” Till as in “until” Numbers that are less than ten or can be expressed in one word should be written out (not “1”, but “one”; not “20” but “twenty”) Contractions (such as “don’t” or “can’t”; write “do not” or “cannot”)

The “No Kidding” Swears: As you can see… In my opinion/I think… This paper will be about.. In conclusion…. (This is an overly obvious transition, I prefer “ultimately”)

The Leave them in Middle School Swears: Really/very/a lot/extremely (avoid “degrees of” adverbs and just choose a stronger word!) Little/big/good/bad/huge/sad/mad etc. (use more sophisticated vocabulary!) Stuff/thing/something Would of – the phrase is would HAVE Book - we are studying a variety of genres, be more specific! Cliches – be original, put it in your own words!

The Swears that Just Annoy Mrs. O in General: I hate sarcastic punctuation! (For example: I really “love” doing math homework. JUST SAY WHAT YOU MEAN, IF YOU HATE IT SAY YOU HATE IT!) Ending a sentence with a preposition or verb (not “The man we have all heard of” but rather “The man of whom we have heard”). This is a weak way to end a sentence! Unnecessary prepositional phrases (not “The party of Steve” but “Steve’s party”)