"Most writers are not interested in becoming technicians of English grammar; they simply want to improve their skills or get a higher grade on their next research paper. The pedagogic digressions that they find in writing handbooks and websites bore them-intimidate them-when all they really want is maximum results with the least amount of pain. Certainly, great writing doesn't just appear on the page: it requires effort. Lots of it. But that effort should be expended on skill development-not on wading through tangential issues or trying to determine what, exactly, a book or website is saying. In Cut It Out, readers will discover how to write powerful, engaging sentences by cutting out excesses, looking for telltale signs of weak writing, and using their intuition-listening to their sentences. In a colloquial, sometimes edgy tone, author Laura Swart delineates the ten most common sentence errors, giving examples of weak writing and leading readers through an effective editing process."--

Manitoba Resurrection: strings of little words -- Okanagan Icewine: weak verbs -- New Brunswick Fiddleheads: passive voice -- Halifax Gateway: progressive tense -- Yukon Lights: repetition -- Canmore Sisters: colloquial language -- Prairie Sky: overloaded sentences -- Montreal Bagels: choppy little sentences -- Niagara Daredevils: uncontrolled sentences -- Arctic Inukshuks: fragments