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

2. 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

3. 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”)

4. 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”)

5. 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!

6. 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”)