Grisly Murder. Is There Another Kind?

Redundancies plague our writing. I know I say you should write the way you speak, but one thing creeps up when we speak that we should avoid -- redundant words. It's your job to purge them before you hit the send button.

We know about very, about incredibly. We should describe the action, rather than lean on these words. But there are words that are so present in our lexicon, that it feels odd to take them out.

Consider "total" and "totally." "The house cost a total of $250,000." Really? Is there something other than "a total" when you talk about numbers? There are rare exceptions, of course. Sometimes, you need to clarify because you have a multitude of numbers. But question the use of "total" every time you write it.

My favorite: "grisly murder." Is there another kind of murder? Lawyers love it. You don't need to write it.