Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Writing better articles (section)

==== Colloquial, emphatic or poetic language<span id="WPCOLLOQUIAL"></span><span id="WPCONVERSATIONAL"></span><span id="WPEMPHATIC"></span><span id="WPFORMAL"></span><span id="WPINFORMAL"></span><span id="WPPOETIC"></span> ====
{{shortcut|WP:COLLOQUIAL|WP:COLLOQUIALISM|WP:EMPHATIC|WP:FORMAL|WP:INFORMAL|WP:POETIC}}
{{See also|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Puffery|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Editorializing|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Euphemisms}}

Another error of writing approach is attempting to make bits of material "pop" (an [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view#Due and undue weight|undue weight]] problem), such as with excessive [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Emphasis|emphasis]], over-[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters|capitalization]], use of [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Contractions|contractions]], unnecessary [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Abbreviations|acronyms and other abbreviations]], the inclusion of [[Hyperbole|hyperbolic]] adjectives and adverbs, or the use of unusual synonyms or [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch|loaded words]]. Just present the sourced information without embellishment, agenda, fanfare, cleverness, or conversational tone.

An extreme example of hyperbole and emphatic language taken from [[Special:Permalink/932854447|Star Canopus diving accident]] as of 28 December 2019 (fixed in the next two revisions) read:

:{{!xt|Miraculously both divers survived the 294-foot fall, but now they faced a harrowing predicament. ... Helplessly trapped, with nothing to keep them warm, ... all they could do was huddle together and pray that rescuers would find them in time. ... But time was not on their side.}}

This was fixed to:

:{{xt|Both divers survived the 294-foot fall.}}

See [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch]] for other examples. Avoid using words and phrases like ''{{!xt|terrible}}'', ''{{!xt|rising star}}'', ''{{!xt|curiously}}'', ''{{!xt|championed the likes of}}'' or ''{{!xt|on the other side of the pond}}'', unless part of a quotation or stated as an external viewpoint.

Punctuation marks that appear in the article should be used only per generally accepted practice. [[Exclamation mark]]s (!) should be used only if they occur in direct quotations.