There are two words that keep showing up when a writer is not sure how their message will land. One makes you sound like you are apologising for your own request. The other sounds like you are correcting someone who did not ask to be corrected. Neither is doing what the writer intended.

"Just" and "actually" are useful words in the right situations. The problem is the situations where people tend to reach for them — which are usually the wrong ones. I noticed this pattern in my own writing first, then started seeing it everywhere.

"Just" as a Minimiser

"Just" acts as a minimiser when it comes before a request, a suggestion, or a statement of what you are doing. Its job in those positions is to make the request seem smaller, less imposing, less worth the reader's attention. The writer adds "just" to be polite. The effect is the opposite.

Before: "I just wanted to check in on the status of the report."

After: "I'm following up on the status of the report."

The "just" version signals that you think your question might be an imposition. The version without "just" signals that the follow-up is normal and reasonable — which it is. When you apologise for a legitimate request, you invite the reader to treat it as one that can wait.

Common patterns to edit out:

  • "I just wanted to follow up..." → "I'm following up..."
  • "Just a quick question..." → "Quick question:"
  • "I just thought I'd mention..." → "Worth noting:"
  • "Just checking if you had a chance to..." → "Did you get a chance to..."

The exception: "just" is fine when it means "only" in the literal sense ("the file is just 2MB") or when indicating timing ("I just sent the email"). It is the apologetic minimiser use that does the damage.

"Actually" as an Accidental Correction

"Actually" has a specific problem in writing: it implies the reader has the wrong information and you are about to set them straight. Even when that is not the intent, the word carries that signal.

"Actually, the meeting is on Thursday" reads like the reader believed it was on a different day — even if no date had been mentioned. The word frames your information as a correction.

Before: "The budget for this quarter is actually $50,000."

After: "The budget for this quarter is $50,000."

Before: "Actually, I think there's a better way to approach this."

After: "There might be a better way to approach this — would it help if I outlined an alternative?"

The second version makes the same offer without the implicit "you were wrong" framing.

Where "actually" is safe: in spoken conversation, where intonation softens it, and in situations where you are explicitly countering a stated incorrect claim. In email, remove it by default and only put it back when the corrective meaning is genuinely what you want to convey.

The Combination: "Just Actually" and "Actually Just"

Some writers use both in the same sentence — usually when they are especially uncertain about how the message will land. The effect compounds: apologetic and corrective at the same time.

Before: "I just actually wanted to flag that the data in the slide might actually be from Q2, not Q3."

After: "The data in this slide looks like it's from Q2 — worth checking before we present."

Other Minimisers Worth Auditing

"Just" is the most common, but several others do the same work:

"Only": "I only wanted to ask..." → "I wanted to ask..."

"Quickly": "I just wanted to quickly ask..." → "Can I ask you..."

"Little": "I have a little question..." → "Quick question:"

"Bother": "Sorry to bother you, but..." → Omit entirely for legitimate requests. Use only when the request is genuinely unusual or out of the ordinary.

When Hedging Is the Right Tool

This is not an argument for blunt, unhedged writing in all situations. Hedging serves real functions — it softens criticism, makes requests feel collaborative rather than instructional, and signals you are open to other views. The problem with "just" is that it hedges things that do not need hedging: status checks, factual updates, and normal requests.

Save hedging for when it genuinely serves the reader: delivering difficult feedback, challenging a senior person's decision, or making a significant ask. See the article on the politeness gap in Asian English for a full treatment of where hedging crosses from courtesy into self-undermining.

One useful test: read the sentence aloud and ask whether a confident colleague would include this word. A confident person asking about a report would say "Where are we with the report?" — not "I just wanted to quickly check if you had a chance to maybe look at the report yet." The minimisers accumulate, and each one signals uncertainty. Removing them one at a time is the right approach.

How Local Tone Handles This

Local Tone's analysis flags minimising uses of "just" and corrective uses of "actually" as part of its pattern tracking. After several sessions, the dashboard shows how frequently these appear in your writing, which makes them easier to notice and catch before sending. The rewrite suggestions remove them in their undermining contexts and keep them where they serve a real purpose.

For related reading on register calibration, see the article on when to use passive voice on purpose and the workplace writing escalation guide.