As part of the writing process, you may find that you include (or rely on) clichés in a draft. Perhaps you use them as placeholders as the language flows through your fingers onto the screen or page.

"I feel cliches are always going to be around, especially in spoken English," says David Beer, who also wrote A Guide to Writing as an Engineer. "Nothing wrong with them as long as everyone gets ...

If you aren’t confident with your writing, it may feel safe to adopt a phrase that others commonly use—for example, by describing yourself as "results-driven" or claiming that you are ...

Have you recently said "the elephant in the room" and "move the needle" unironically at work? Then you need to start purging jargon from your writing and speaking right now. Here's a look at the most ...

(Good idea.) Then it made a promise: “Moving forward, I will make a concerted effort to steer clear of cliches in my writing.” Even when I asked specifically for a high-school-graduation ...

Occasional exceptions prove the rule: Harry Enfield and Matt Lucas have probably added more phrases to the language than the rest of the comedy writing community put together. Clichés are widely-held ...

Teachers know it, guidance counselors know it, even colleges know it: High school students dread writing the personal ... following overdone personal essay cliches: How seeing other people ...

If that seems harsh, think of how clichés harm writing, draw unwelcome attention, replace freshness with staleness and rob readers of the pleasure of original expressions that make writing memorable.

When you’re writing in a formal style, particularly, it’s better not to use them. Here are some clichés you should avoid like the plague (cliché!) in formal writing.