This is a fantastically amazing, wonderfully terrific, super-great blog

Do you believe me? Of course not.

When it comes to writing, you can’t tell people something is great. You have to show it. Adjectives make us cynical.

A company who haven’t quite got that is The Mandarin Oriental Hotel chain. Here’s an extract from an email I got from them recently.

We are delighted to share with you news of our fantastic start to 2011. And what a beginning it has been with the incredible success of our newly opened restaurant Dinner by Heston Blumenthal alongside our ever-popular Bar Boulud, London. This sensational addition really makes Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London a leading gastronomic destination.

And:

We invite you to embrace your own Royal experience with our lavish Royal Wedding Tour Package making our historic hotel the only place to be for such a regal affair. We have also organised a fabulous opportunity for our guests to enjoy the benefits of town and country with our special package A Day At Royal Ascot, which includes a stay at our glorious hotel, followed by a day at the Races.

But my favourite bit of all says this. Adding to our excitement, London is emanating a unique euphoria at the imminent arrival of the Royal Wedding.

Are we? I’m not.

We just don’t buy it when people bombard us with adjectives. We want to make up our own minds.

But, useless adjectives pop up all the time. Keep an eye out for them. Sale signs with ‘fantastic’ on them. Websites with the words ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’.

Why not explain exactly what it is that makes your subject so fantastic, creative and innovative? And if you can’t, cut those adjectives out.

Your writing will sound bolder and more believable. And you won’t run the risk of being held up as a bad example of adjectivitis on a blog.

0 min read, posted in Writing tips, by Admin, on 14 Apr 2011