Weak words are a story’s nemesis. They are easy to use, serve multiple purposes, and act as quick fillers–but they drag your story down and dim your writing. They crop up like kittens unless we are paying strict attention to each sentence we compose. With care and time, you can ferret them out—my advice is to wait until you’re at the copyediting stage, when there is no chance of you rewriting and accidentally adding in more of these insidious words. When you edit, replace those offenders with strong verbs or simply tighten the sentence.
“TO BE” VERBS …
4am Writer 
I’ve concentrated on rooting out adverbs and crutch words. Your post is a good reminder of the other dandelions lurking in my manuscript.
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Adverbs sneak into my writing too. They’re difficult to resist. They’re the prettiest of all the dandelions. 🙂
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