- Adverbs are mostly, very often overly used.
- Jokes are not appropriate in formal documents.
- Good, bad, nice, terrible and stupid are moral judgments, not applicable in scientific work. Facts and errors must be addressed with precise words.
- 'Soon' is imprecise. How soon?
- 'We were surprised to learn' is irrelevant information.
- 'Seems to show' is guessing, not presenting facts.
- 'In terms of' is usually too vague.
- Different does not mean various; different than what?
- 'Lots of' is not a number.
- 'Number of' should be replaced with a quantitative statement, such as some, many or most.
- 'Kind of, type of and something like' are vague and colloquial terms.
- Probably can only be used if you know and state the statistical probability.
- 'Obviously and clearly might' not be true for everyone.
- 'Along with' can be shortened to with.
- 'This' and 'that' can refer to the subject of the previous sentence, the entire previous sentence, the entire previous paragraph or the entire previous section. Make sure it is clear which!
- 'You' and 'I' have no place in a formal dissertation.
- 'Must' and 'always' are definite. Are you absolutely sure?
- Proofs are mathematical constructs. Would a mathematician agree that it is a proof?
