Wikipedia:Location, location, location!
Wikipedia essay on not saying things are "located" somewhere
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The word "located", and its synonyms, can be safely dropped from the following types of sentence:
The mural is
locatedat the north end of Frary's refectory, above a fireplace.The sacristy is
locatedon the left (north side) looking towards the altar, under the bell tower.The tabernacle is
placedat the far end of the chancel.Paghman District is
situatedin the western part of Kabul Province, Afghanistan.
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article or a Wikipedia policy, as it has not been reviewed by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: It's unnecessary to write "X is a Y located in Z" when "X is a Y in Z" will do. |
Are you being served?
A closely related construction is Smith serves as the President of Ruritania
when you could just say Smith is the President of Ruritania
. Sometimes a president or a military officer is serving their country, but sometimes holding a government position is more of a way to be served by other people than to serve the needs of others. "Served as" is for milk crates and Velveeta: Along one wall, stacks of milk crates served as bookcases
or We were so poor that sometimes Velveeta served as dessert
(or, perhaps, Velveeta was served as dessert
, but that's another story).
Books penned created fathered brought into being written by people
Lust for Life (1934) is a biographical novel
writtenby Irving Stone about the life of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh.
Directors helming eponymous films movies that garner accolades
- Please don't write that a film was "helmed" by someone or that an album was a band's "sophomore effort".
- Keep eponymy below toxic levels (e.g. not
Cheaper by the Dozen was published in 1948 and was adapted as an eponymous 1950 film. The pair followed up with a successful sequel, Belles on Their Toes (1950), which was adapted as an eponymous 1952 film.
- And please, please don't talk about the "accolades" the picture or album "garnered".
Violation of the above may make your fellow editors vomit.
Coptalk
I encourage editors to eschew the weird, puffed up bureaucratese used by police (in the US at least):
| Bureaucratese | Normal talk |
|---|---|
| I responded to the entrance | I went (drove, walked) to the entrance |
| He was transported to the hospital for treatment | He was taken to the hospital (for treatment, obviously) |
| I observed a gentleman | I saw a man |
| I discharged my weapon | I fired my gun |
| I escorted the gentleman from the premises | I took the man outside |