How to Revise Cliches in Essays
by Kathleen M.
You have heard the advice to avoid cliches and maybe you have even tried to rid yourself of the ones you employ most often. The reason to avoid cliches is that they are a shortcut – and when you are writing an application essay (or any important piece of writing), you don’t want the reader to think you are cutting corners.
So instead of most cliches, you can just explain what you mean. Often though, we use a cliche because we aren’t quite sure what we mean!
For example:
Thinking outside the box
Do you mean that you are a freethinker or rulebreaker?
Do you mean you cannot be contained?
Do you mean you are willing to risk the result to follow an idea?
Once there is more than one way to interpret a phrase, you have to beware – which meaning do I mean and how will the reader perceive this? So instead of using “thinking outside the box,” consider explaining why the idea you are discussing does move out of the traditional and how you were able to use that way of thinking to your benefit.
Another example:
I’m grateful for my circumstances
Is this true or are you just saying this because you should be grateful?
Should you be grateful?
Are you implying a comparison to others with more/less than you?
Is there some circumstance you aren’t telling that makes you currently grateful?
Here the idea is a good one – but instead of “I’m grateful for my circumstances” maybe you could offer a description of your life and explain something else besides gratitude it inspires.
One more example:
I’m hardworking
Great – compared to whom?
Do you meet all of your deadlines?
Are you overextended?
Do you have any fun?
What does it mean to be hardworking? Could you instead define this characteristic of yourself in some other way? Maybe you are good at completing tasks, maybe you are organized, maybe you are goal oriented.
If you are feeling yourself in a stopped position when writing, and you reach out for a cliche, mark it in your essay so you remember to come back and write out an actual explanation as a part of your revision.
Cliches are sometimes difficult to weed out because they sound like they make sense until you start thinking about them! Learn how you can explain and revise your cliches better for a stronger essay!
