This week I have a quick and dirty tip about redundant phrases in a meeting middle about how

to write a good letter of recommendation.

And this is a milestone episode.

It's Grammar Girl Episode number 500.

Can you believe it?

So to celebrate I have some special listener stories to share at the end.

Now on to purging redundancy.

When you're writing an essay, the point typically is to sound smart while proving your arguments.

But sometimes in an effort to come across intelligently, writers take a deep dive into redundancy.

Paying a little extra attention to the words you use can make a big difference in creating

a polished essay.

Take a more critical look at your writing to find unnecessary words.

Often the phrasing will sound natural at first, but once you pause and think about it,

you'll realize you're using more words than are needed.

Here are a couple of examples.

The word currently is often unnecessary or redundant.

Similar offenders are right now at this point, at the moment, or even just now.

These phrases are often part of a sentence that's already written in the present tense.

For example, you might be tempted to write.

At this moment, the US Supreme Court is considering whether it will hear the appeal.

But you don't need the phrase at this moment.

By saying the court is considering something, the reader knows it's happening at this moment.

...