In governmental and organizational writing, sentences are often overloaded with subordinate clauses, prepositional phrases and embedded lists. How can you simplify them? Example from an… Read More »Overloaded sentences in organizational writing
In springtime, we prune our gardens. We can take the same approach to our texts. Let’s consider some typical wordy expressions to see how we… Read More »Common wordy expressions you can replace with concise ones
“International” writers tend to love redundant adjective pairs— pairs of words that we can usually edit to remove excessive verbiage. They can also sound rather… Read More »Redundancies in texts of international organizations
Well, not quite. They can make you sound pompous, long-winded and old-fashioned. In most communications today, long words are inappropriate and may confuse your reader.… Read More »Long words make me sound sophisticated, right?
“all, relevant, appropriate, duly, due, specific, closely, close” Do you tend to use these words? They’re words that are commonly found in writing in international… Read More »Pruning your text to get rid of redundant words
To make your writing sound more alive, don’t use dull and impersonal expressions such as “it is”, “it was”, “there is”, “there was”. Not only… Read More »Sound more engaged and action-oriented by avoiding “impersonal” beginnings
Liven up your writing by avoiding the verb “to be” Nothing makes for duller reading than the overuse of the simple verb “to be”. It… Read More »To be or not to be: Avoid overusing this verb!
If you tend to use any of these in your writing, find more everyday words or expressions, or simply delete them. Why? They’re old-fashioned and… Read More »Getting rid of old-fashioned words and phrases
Sentences consist of two types of words – those that do the work and those that glue words together. “Glue” words are the 200 most… Read More »Reduce “glue” words to be more concise
Do you tend to split the subject from its verb by including many clauses, especially in opening sentences, so you can include as much information… Read More »Be clear and direct – use strong verbs