Day 166: Use introductory HUPAs sparingly.

A HUPA is any word or phrase that tells the reader, “Hey, you! Pay attention.” Some HUPAs can be used to begin a sentence and alert the reader that what follows is very important.

Examples include now, thus, well, look, please note, and remember. Consider this sentence.

“Remember, your loan payments are due on the 15th of the month.”

The word “Remember” gets the reader’s attention and alerts him or her that the following statement is very important.

These words are fine, but use them sparingly to help the reader identify only the most important information. If you use them too often, the reader will have difficulty identifying important points, and this strategy will lose impact.