Technical Writing — NASA's list of "Weak Phrases"

When writing a technical document or specification, you should get rid of the following phrases whenever you can. They were found to be ineffective by NASA Software Assurance Technology Center:

  • adequate
  • as a minimum
  • as applicable
  • easy
  • as appropriate
  • be able to
  • be capable
  • but not limited to
  • capability of
  • capability to
  • effective
  • if practical
  • normal
  • provide for
  • timely
  • tbd

1 Comments

  1. Bill Andre on July 23, 2010 at 8:35 pm

    One that I would add to this list is “Numerous.”