|
Look back
at the title of this tip. It easily could have been “How to
Keep from Being Wordy in Your Writing.” But as readers, we
would find that wording both lengthy and unnecessary. It can
be tempting with all those juicy words out there to use more
than are necessary to express an idea clearly. But writing
is not only about how much we enjoy wording it; writing
must accomplish its goals with the reader in mind.
Recognizing
wordiness is the first step to revising it. Read the
sentences below.
Ex. NASA
announced that the refurbished shuttle’s launch will take
place sometime in the near future.
Ex. The
castle made of stone and gray in color struck our eyes as a
magnificent structure.
These
sentences are short, simple sentences. But in writing that
calls for brevity and conciseness, certain phrases above
could be left out. Consider revising the phrases “sometime in the near
future” and “made of stone and gray in color.”
Often,
wordiness results from stringing a number of prepositional
phrases (of, for, after, by,
around, etc.) onto a sentence in place of a single
adjective or adverb that says the same thing. Remember,
we have access to many descriptive words. Rather than
bulking up writing with smaller words that don’t truly “say
anything,” why not utilize more precise, descriptive words
to convey an idea?
The revised
examples below show how simple substitutions can clean up
sentences and state the same idea in fewer words.
Ex. NASA
announced that the refurbished shuttle’s launch will take
place soon.
Ex. The
gray stone castle struck our eyes as a magnificent
structure.
As you can
see, sometimes the word we need isn’t even in the sentence;
sometimes, the word is already there but is surrounded by
“filler” words. The possibilities for both wordiness and
conciseness are boundless, but especially in formal writing,
setting some boundaries may be beneficial. |