So should 'fundamentally,' 'chiefly,' 'inherently,' and 'essentially' be avoided as well?

I disagree. If you say:

"He is honest"

that is not the same as saying:

"He is basically honest"

The latter describes his nature.


>Tamar,
>
>You say:
>
>Avoid the word "utilize." There's no situation in which "utilize" is a better choice than "use."
>
>also while you're at it could you add to the article:
>
>Avoid the word "basically." There's no situation in which "basically" makes any difference to the sense of the sentence.
>
>
>>>The moronic rule of thumb would appear to be "if the sentence requires a pronoun, replace it with one of those pronouns with 'self/selves' on the end"
>>
>>Yeah, drives me nuts, too. Here's what I have about this on my website (http://www.tomorrowssolutionsllc.com/writingtips.htm):
>>
>>Don't abuse the "self" words. These words ("myself," "yourself," etc.) belong in a sentence only if the corresponding pronoun has already appeared. For example, this is correct:
>>
>>"I'll take care of it myself."
>>
>>But this is wrong:
>>
>>"He had a meeting with John and myself."
>>
>>That should be:
>>
>>"He had a meeting with John and me."
>>
>>Tamar