If you want your writing to be authoritative, impactful and entertaining, removing words often makes it more of all those things.
Taking stuff away is usually better than adding more.
1: THAT. Particularly redundant, in phrases like “5 words that you can stop using now”.
2: BASICALLY. It’s a needless qualifier and undermines the power of your point.
3: LITERALLY. Most of the time, you mean metaphorically anyway.
4: I THINK. If you only think something, it may not be true. Don’t dilute your insights like that.
5: HONESTLY. If only the thing you just said was honest, was everything else a lie?
What are your favourite ugly words?