Page 177 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

Clichés are overused phrases, expressions, sayings, or ideas. We use them
because their constant overuse in what we read and hear brings them quickly to

our minds. They flow effortlessly into our writing. But they are effortless
because they contain little that is original, and they rarely add anything of

substance.
As the clichéd advice about clichés goes, avoid them like the plague!

Clichés appear in writing and speech of all types: in every profession, at

every education level, and in all genders and ages.
I have seen novice writers try to wrangle clichés into something useful, as if

they could rehabilitate a longtime felon. I’ve never seen it done well.

I’ve seen other writers—some who should know better—try to justify their
use of clichés by pointing out they come from Shakespeare, or they happen to be
true, or they’re classics. These are all rubbish arguments, frankly: just

justifications for lazy writing.

How to recognize clichés:

■ You’ve heard them your whole life, or you’ve known them so long that

you can’t remember when you first heard them.
■ They have a different tone or register from the writing surrounding

them.
■ They feel a little empty or don’t seem to add much.

A few common clichés (out of many thousands in English; google for more):

■■all walks of life follow the money

■ ■ ■ ■ from the dawn of man in the nick of time in this day and age in today’s
■ ■ ■ ■ society little did I know never a dull moment nipped in the bud

■ throughout history writing on the wall Some clichés are ideas. In fiction,

■ common writing clichés are: The story opens by having a character
wake from a dream.

■ Characters are racial or ethnic stereotypes.
■ A character comes back from the dead.

■ The main character dies as the big finish to the story.