Students should post PRIME examples of the inflated phrasing and wordiness that we want to eliminate from our writing. You can provide one of two types: vague wording (including indefinite or personal pronouns) as well as rhetorical phrasing (language the tells the reader what s(he) should think, rather than letting the ideas stand for themselves).

For example, vague wording includes: some, many, ____thing, very, this, that, it, people, etc.

For example, rhetorical phrasing includes: this quote shows that, in the story written by, here the author clearly shows that, one can clearly see that. etc.

After everyone in your group has either circled or underlined the phrasing THEY suspect is inflated, you should post your own, complete sentences that you agree contain such wordiness. Post that as a comment to this blog entry.