Sentences are sometimes padded with an empty introduction or "dummy head":
Thus we see that ....These wordy phrases shove the main idea of the sentence into a "that" clause. Do not use an introductory phrase unless it is essential to the meaning of your sentence. Write about your subject, not about your own mental state or the quality of your argument.
It is my opinion that ....
It is interesting to note that ....
On the contrary, we must agree that it has become crystal clear that ....
Make your writing efficient by selecting nouns and verbs that have no need for extending, qualifying, limiting adjectives and adverbs. To be sure, you need not adopt extreme austerity as the invariable goal of your writing. Occasionally, a stripped, lean style cannot express a genuinely subtle or involved argument. You may need to employ the baroque style of a Henry James as well as the directness of a Hemingway. But use more complex or ambitious language only when no simpler statement precisely expresses your meaning. Avoid wordiness.
Copyright 1996 Yale University. Revised on Monday, May 20, 1996