Has anyone scolded you for filling your writing with too many unnecessary words? If you’ve been spending your editing time trying to get rid of excessive word usage, we might be able to help.
The following is a list of specific items you can look for that will help reduce wordiness in your writing immediately, apart from using a good grammar software. They are extremely helpful because they are mistakes even the best writers can make when composing their first drafts.
1. Omit phrases like “it is,” “there is,” and “there are” during the start of sentences. Rewrite the sentence to make sense without them.
2. Remove verb phrases using “which” and “that” (e.g. “which performs”), replacing them with the “-ing” form of the verb (e.g. “performing”). In general, check all instances of “which” and “that” in your situations, looking for opportunities to remove it.
3. Omit “this” from the start of a simple sentence by combining it with a previous sentence.
4. Replace “should,” “could” and “would” with stronger verbs. It will not only shorten your copy, it will make your statements better and sound more confident.
5. Replace “-ing” verbs with a simple present or past tense form, whenever possible. For instance, a verb like “is happening” can be updated to “happened”.
6. In the case of two sentences, where the second one serves as an explanation to the first, you can combine them by using a colon instead. (e.g. “I ate my favorite food. It’s no other than ice cream.” to “I ate my favorite food: ice cream”).
Tags: editing, editing text
