throat-clearing
/ˈθroʊt ˌklɪərɪŋ/
unnecessary preamble before the main point
throat-clearing in a sentence
“I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I believe... Just say what you believe.”
Origin of throat-clearing
From literally clearing one's throat before speaking
Related Words
active voice
the subject performs the action, creating direct and vigorous prose
strong verbs
specific, vivid verbs that replace weak verb + adverb combinations
nominalization
turning verbs into nouns, often weakening prose
expletive construction
'there is' or 'it is' constructions that delay the real subject
redundancy
unnecessary repetition of meaning
verbosity
using more words than necessary