Near by

 Adverbial phrase, not yet fully accepted as good English, though the analogy of close by and hard by seems to justify it. Near, or near at hand, is as good, if not better.

Not to be used as an adjective; use neighboring

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.

Nature

Often simply redundant, used like character.

Poor: Acts of a hostile nature.
Better: Hostile acts.

Often vaguely used in such expressions as “a lover of nature;” “poems about nature.” Unless more specific statements follow, the reader cannot tell whether the poems have to do with natural scenery, rural life, the sunset, the untracked wilderness, or the habits of squirrels.

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.

Most

Not to be used for almost.

Poor: Most everybody.
Better: Almost everybody.

Poor: Most all the time.
Better: Almost all the time.

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.

Lose out.

Meant to be more emphatic than lose, but actually less so, because of its commonness. The same holds true of try out, win out, sign up, register up. With a number of verbs, out and up form idiomatic combinations: find out, run out, turn out, cheer up, dry up, make up, and others, each distinguishable in meaning from the simple verb. Lose out is not.

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.

Literal, literally.

Often incorrectly used in support of exaggeration or violent metaphor.

Poor: A literal flood of abuse.
Better: A flood of abuse.

Poor: Literally dead with fatigue.
Better: Almost dead with fatigue (dead tired).

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.

Line, along these lines.

Line in the sense of course of procedure, conduct, thought, is allowable, but has been so much overworked, particularly in the phrase along these lines, that a writer who aims at freshness or originality had better discard it entirely.

Poor: Mr. B. also spoke along the same lines.
Better: Mr. B. also spoke, to the same effect.

Poor: He is studying along the line of French literature.
Better: He is studying French literature.

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.

Less.

Should not be misused for fewer.

Poor: He had less men than in the previous campaign.
Better: He had fewer men than in the previous campaign.

Less refers to quantity, fewer to number. “His troubles are less than mine” means “His troubles are not so great as mine.” “His troubles are fewer than mine” means “His troubles are not so numerous as mine.” It is, however, correct to say, “The signers of the petition were less than a hundred, “where the round number, a hundred, is something like a collective noun, and less is thought of as meaning a less quantity or amount.

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.

Kind of.

Not to be used as a substitute for rather (before adjectives and verbs), or except in familiar style, for something like (before nouns). Restrict it to its literal sense: “Amber is a kind of fossil resin;” “I dislike that kind of notoriety.” The same holds true of sort of.

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.

However.

In the meaning nevertheless, not to come first in its sentence or clause.

Poor: The roads were almost impassable. However, we at last succeeded in reaching camp.
Better: The roads were almost impassable. At last, however, we succeeded in reaching camp.

When however comes first, it means in whatever way or to whatever extent.

However you advise him, he will probably do as he thinks best.
However discouraging the prospect, he never lost heart.

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.

He is a man who.

A common type of redundant expression.

Poor: He is a man who is very ambitious.
Better: He is very ambitious.

Poor: Spain is a country which I have always wanted to visit.
Better: I have always wanted to visit Spain.

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.