Fat-free Writing
By Uma Shankari, 25th Jan 2011 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutWritingTips
Trim the fat in your writing and make it crisp. This would bring clarity to your writing.
Write short sentences. No redundant words.
A powerfully written piece of writing is unpretentious, simple, concise and direct. A distinguishing mark of forceful writing is economy — using no more words than necessary. There should be no redundant words. When you trim your stuffy sentences, your writing becomes logical and clear.
Pompous words do not make a writing good. "Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage--to move in the opposite direction." Words of the genius, Albert Einstein.
After you write a sentence, look it over and ask whether the sense would be damaged by judicious trimming. If not, start cutting, because the shorter version is usually better. Pascal once said, "The letter I have written today is longer than usual because I lacked the time to make it shorter."
“The point I wish to make is that the students studying at this school are in need of a much better building” is verbose and should be replaced by “Students at this school need a better building”.
Bureaucratic and academic writing pads every sentence with phrases like ‘It is important to note that’ or ‘it should be pointed out’. This slows down reading. Revise “There are two security guards at the gate” to “Two security guards stand at the gate”.
While making a public speech, do not say "I would like to thank"; instead, simply thank whoever you want to thank. Similarly, you will make a better impression on your interviewers if you don’t repeatedly say, "I’d like to say"; say what you want without such interjections.
Don’t you think ‘We decided that we would leave the meeting early’ is wordy? A better option would have been to write ‘We decided to leave the meeting early’.
A short list of some of the offenders that can be deleted (or replaced by):
join together ('join')
in the event that ('if')
it can be seen that (omit this)
prior to ('before')
owing to the fact that ('because' or 'since')
totally, completely (omit this)
therefore, it should be remembered that, it should be noted that, it is imperative that, in a manner of speaking, (omit these)
at the present moment in time(now)
in order to (to)
preplanning(planning – you always plan before the event)
personal opinion (opinion – opinions are personal)
new discovery (discovery is always new)
oral conversation (conversation is always oral)
actual reality (isn't reality actual?)
free gifts (I believe gifts are free)
absolutely essential (Should you qualify essential?)
advance warning (It isn't warning if not given in advance)
red in color ('red')
associate together, all inclusive, ask a question, bare naked, basic fundamentals, component parts, empty hole/space, whether or not, surrounded on all sides, postponed until later, near vicinity, passing fad, sufficient enough (You want to define moronism?).
I picked this at random from some page on the internet: How we do this is done in various ways. (We can do this in various ways.)
Remember, brevity is a sign of strength.
Comments
25th Jan 2011 (#)
Good lesson
Thanks Uma
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17th Feb 2011 (#)
This is a wonderful piece! These things are very important.
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13th Apr 2011 (#)
It's like losing unnecessary weight!
I thought that way when I saw the title.
You're right. People won't have time to bear the burden of fat paragraphs!
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