I worked hard to tighten up my writing in The Proper Way to Say Goodbye by getting rid of those unnecessary words. Another one I found was even. When I read my sentences with even, I was usually trying to emphasize something. But so often, I don’t need it.
 

Here are my examples from The Proper Way.
 
-Just like I’d told her several times before I even moved here. Greek life wasn’t for me.
 
-And even if I was, I wouldn’t talk to him about it.
 
-Hadn’t even thought about the weekend
 
-I even met a few of them when I visited,
 
-Trying to hide it from Devyn because she didn’t even know about him yet.
 
I just don’t need any of the above evens because it doesn’t add anything to the sentence. I deleted 33 from my manuscript. Not bad. But I still left a lot, mostly for Chloe’s voice.
 
So one more word to add to my list