Collins Improve Your Writing Skills - Graham King

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gift from the . . . .

      2 light at the end of the . . . . . .

      3 weighed in the . . . . . . . and found wanting

      4 quantum . . . .

      5 paper over the . . . . . .

      6 fall between two . . . . . .

      7 blot on the . . . . . . . . .

      8 if you’ve got it, . . . . . .it

      9 the . . . . . not worth the candle

      10 it’s not over till the fat lady . . . . .

      Answers. 1. gods; 2. tunnel; 3. balance; 4. leap; 5. cracks; 6. stools; 7. landscape; 8. flaunt; 9. game’s; 10. sings

      Most clichés begin life as someone’s incredibly neat, timely or witty way of expressing or emphasising a thought. Because it is clever, a lot of people steal the phrase as their own. Multiply that by a few million and you have the desperately tired and overused husk of somebody’s originality.

      Many clichés are centuries old. If we say of a jilted bride-to-be that she was left in the lurch we are echoing a comment made by the English poet Gabriel Harvey in 1576. Thirty years earlier saw another writer, John Heywood, recognise that he knew what side his bread’s buttered on (1546). Clichés date from the Bible and more are minted, waiting in the wings (cliché) for clichédom, every day. These days a cliché can be born, adopted and be worn out in a matter of mere months.

      The grammarian Eric Partridge identified four kinds of cliché. There is the idiom that becomes so indiscriminately used that its original meaning becomes lost (to the manner born has become to the manor born because of the widespread belief that it means born to wealth and luxury, whereas it originally meant ‘following an established custom, or accustomed to a situation’ as in Shakespeare’s Hamlet 4:14). His second type includes phrases that have become so hackneyed that only the laziest writers and speakers ever use them (to nip in the bud; beyond the pale; down to the last detail).

      Partridge’s third group consists of foreign phrases (terra firma; in flagrante delicto; plus ça change) while his fourth comprises snippets and quotations from literature (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing from Pope, and Shakespeare’s a thing of beauty is a joy for ever).

      However we haven’t yet rounded up all the usual suspects (cliché). One serial offender (very modern cliché) is the ‘stock modifier’ – a Darby and Joan (cliché) combination of words that, often for no reason, are always seen together. A person isn’t moved; he or she is visibly moved; a person isn’t merely courteous, he or she is unfailingly courteous. These parasitic partners are really sly clichés and you should watch for them. To help you know these partners better, try matching these:

1 over-riding A consequences
2 woefully B apparent
3 far-reaching C inadequate
4 no-holds-barred D importance
5 increasingly E interview

      Answers: 1D; 2C; 3A; 4E; 5B

      If you make up your mind to watch out for clichés creeping into your speech and writing and to try to avoid them you’ll be surprised how easy it becomes to do without them – and how much fresher your writing becomes as a result.

      Here are a few you might remove from your vocabulary:

      An A to Z of Clichés to Avoid like the Plague

       accidentally on purpose

       accident waiting to happen

       actions speak louder than words

       act of contrition

       acid test

       add insult to injury

       after due consideration

       all intents and purposes

       all in the same boat

       all over bar the shouting

       all things considered

       almost too good to be true

       angel of mercy

      angry silence (classic Darby & Joan)

       as a matter of fact

       as luck would have it

       as sure as eggs is/are eggs

       at the end of the day

       at this moment/point in time

       auspicious occasion

       avid reader

       baby with the bathwater, don’t throw out the

       backseat driver

       back to basics/to the drawing board

       bag and baggage

       bag of tricks

       ballpark figure

       ball’s in your court, the

       bang your head against a brick wall

       barking up the wrong tree

      bat an eyelid (try wink and surprise everyone)

       batten down the hatches

       beavering away

       beer and skittles, it’s not all

       before you can say Jack Robinson

       beggars can’t be choosers

       be good (and if you can’t be good, be careful!)

       be that as it may

       between a rock and a hard place

       bite the bullet

       blessing in disguise

       blind leading the blind

       blissful ignorance

       blood out of a stone, it’s like trying to get

       bloody but unbowed

       blow hot and cold

       blot on the landscape

       blow the whistle

       blue rinse brigade

       blushing bride

       bone of

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