Right on. Whacking those five words can definitely create more vivid prose on most any topic. But I vote for adding a sixth. It’s “so.” So as a sentence starter is overpopulating the blogosphere as a cooler colloquialism of therefore. And lots of times it’s tighter when left unsaid. If Linda doesn’t mind, I’ll use one of her sentences to illustrate.

So if you’re not actually uncertain, they rob your writing of conviction.

What if the sentence had simply started, “If you’re not actually uncertain….” Less conversational, more heads up.

My mouse milking aside, I love this article. Write on!!