I learned a new term last week, during our “ share a tip ” day here when Carlene Rae Dater shared her tip on “Pesky Pleonasms.” She explained, “A pleonasm is a word or phrase which can be removed from a sentence without changing its meaning. For example, ‘John walked to the chair and sat down.’ ‘Down’ is a pleonasm and can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence.” Although I was not familiar with the term, I did know them when I saw them. In fact, part of my editing advice revolves around deleting extraneous words. Words such as “that,” “very,” “both,” and “there was.” Others might include “began,” “started,” or “continued.” Another pet peeve of mine is "in order to." Drop the "in order" just do it! I also caution to watch use of “ly” words. These words are often used to prop up weak verbs. For example: “She walked quickly” can be stronger if written “She strode” (or bounded or rushed). Likewise with the “to be” verbs (was, were, had been, etc....