Bradley hall is usually filled with students who do not study the building as a structure. Reducing wordiness in your writing when youre writing, it can be tempting to write the same way youd speak, in an informal manner. Jul 06, 2018 writing should be clean, clear, and concise. This is controlling wordiness and writing concisely, section 17. Recognize zombie nouns nominalizaons and understand strategies for avoiding them. Jargon is the continuous use of a technical vocabulary even in places where that vocabulary is not relevant. Focus on clarity in your writing and avoid wordiness. Avoid passive voice, needless repetition, and wordy phrases and clauses. If you need professional help add wordiness in essay help with completing any kind of homework, is the right add wordiness in essay help place to get the high quality for.
Identify common wordy phrases that are underlined if you see a commonly used wordy phrase underlined in the sentence improvement. Whether you are looking for essay, coursework, research, or term paper help, or with any other assignments, it is no problem for us. Identify common wordy phrases that are underlined if you see a commonly used wordy phrase underlined in the sentence improvement subsection, replace the phrase with the concise version of the phrase. While there is no universal standard for the length of a. Wordiness read over your compositions, and, when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out. The paper is obviously yours, so you dont need to use phrases such as i think, i believe, or it seems to me. Seven rules sum up the bestknown advice george orwells in his classic politics and the english language for avoiding wordiness.
M any students have a problem with wordiness because they have a hard. Sometimes an agent might ask for a chapter outline instead, which is a synopsis. There is no rule that academic writing cannot use short, clear sentences. These should be used as a guide to show what is possible, not as a source of the only correct. Plain english is writing that is clear and straightforward, targeted at the appropriate reading level, and free of jargon, wordiness, and cliches. Owl writing writing exercises purdue university writer college education learning craft diy artwork. Wordiness grammarly academic guides at walden university. Richard nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and english at georgia southern university and the author of several universitylevel grammar and composition textbooks. One easy way to avoid wordiness is to limit or eliminate the use of filler words. Email writing dos, donts, etiquette, format sentences and paragraphs structure, length, pointers, transitions active versus passive voice wordiness and redundancy antiquated words and. The purpose of blog writing is to present ideas in an accessible and more informal way than in formal academic papers. Many of us have learned to pad our writing with all sorts of empty phrases to reach length requirements for academic writing. Examine the direct, handson benefits youll get from this course listed on page 3 and throughout the overview. However, for most forms of writing, its best to avoid using repetitious or unnecessary phrases.
Wordy sentences use too many useless words that clutter writing. The following information, adapted from the mla handout for writers of research papers, 8 th edition, demonstrates many of the more common examples of how to cite your sources using mla style. Exercise in eliminating wordiness in business writing. For example, a character of yours can be eloquent and chatty, or its your deliberate literary technique that you use from time to time to create a certain effect, and so on. Conciseness and eliminating wordiness ku writing center. If you need professional help add wordiness in essay help with completing any kind of homework, is the right add wordiness in essay help place to get the high quality for affordable prices. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences. When reducing wordiness, first look for repetition, which occurs when words or ideas are repeated. Any student who wants to meet foreign students can do so. Busy readers appreciate getting the information they need quickly and. Just because an idea is reworded, it does not mean youre avoiding repetition or saying anything new. Contrast with conciseness, directness, and clarity.
If accepted literally, however, this title could be confusing. In fact, professional writing has little to do with wordiness. Writing a formal research paper in the social sciences. For general instructions on how to apply for financial aid, please visit the office of undergraduate financial aid website. This exercise will give you practice in eliminating wordiness from workplace memos, letters, emails, and reports. Wordiness can seriously detract from the coherency and quality of your writing and frustrate your readers. When you use one syllable words, the points are made clearly devoid of any jargons. Here are two websites with full blown explanations of introduction methods and several excellent examples.
Achieving conciseness through reduction the opposite of wordiness is conciseness. Blog posts are typically short pieces that integrate your personal experiences with analysis. Please note that these are a sampling of possible answers. View pdf version the purpose of blog writing is to present ideas in an accessible and more informal way than in formal academic papers. Blog posts are typically short pieces that integrate your personal experiences with. The bus company will probably announce its schedule during the next few days. Wordiness also tends to occur when were struggling to clarify our ideas or when were tired and not thinking clearly. University writing center uwc mla format quick guide. Because of the increased economic demands i am facing in my personal life, i find it necessary to request monetary assistance and relief in my professional. At the end of the section, students will be able to. Fix a wordy sentence by removing unnecessary phrases, changing verb. Wordiness can have several causes, and long, complex sentences can sometimes be difficult for readers to understand. Clear intel ligence writing is as direct and literal as possible, which prevents misinterpretation. While there is no universal standard for the length of a book or novel synopsis, agents usually favor one to two pages, singlespaced.
Outside of school, writing concisely can help you create more effective business letters, email messages, memos, and other documents. In an effective sentence, every word serves a purpose and occupies the right spot. It is impos sible to stick to the one syllable rule, but with an active awareness of the rule. Revise these sentences to state their meaning in fewer words. Writing style the style requirements in the manual are intended to facilitate clear communication. In fact, authors seeking publication and students completing assignments increase their chances of success when they write concisely american. Busy readers appreciate getting the information they need quickly and easily. Writing resources writing academic blogs hamilton college. Below, we suggest several ways to help you reduce wordiness and increase quality. Youll see we are committed to delivering a full range of powerful business writing concepts and tools you can benefit from every. Many local farmers plan to attend next fridays meeting. Wordiness, says robert hartwell fiske, is arguably the biggest obstacle to clear writing and speaking 101 wordy phrases, 2005.
As strunk and white tell us in the elements of style 4th ed. Some student writing assignments, especially those in apa format, require an abstract. Eliminating wordiness exercise 1 answers purdue writing lab. Regardless of the reason for padded writing, we can achieve concise writing if we incorporate several strategies during the writing process and if were aware of the individual patterns of wordiness typical of our own writing. Brief intelligence writing gets directly to the point without using extra words, thus increasing clarity.
Some examples do contain instances of informal language, so consider how the strategy. Some examples do contain instances of informal language, so consider how the strategy being illustrated would operate using formal language. Of course, there is a danger in being too economical in your. By writing clearly and concisely, you will get straight to your point, so your audience can easily comprehend it. In chess, a player is not supposed to make unnecessary moves. The use of more words than necessary to effectively convey meaning in speech or writing. The last point i want to make is that hard work can bring success. Avoid overusing it is, there is, and there are weak expletives at the beginning of sentences.
Eliminating wordiness exercise 1 purdue writing lab. The first story in the book is a masterpiece in itself and quite a story. Sometimes you simply need to choose a different word. See on writing well by william zinsser and the writers art by james j. Write faster and betterguaranteed eliminate costly, embarrassing mistakes build your credibility and get great results. The table below shows some commonlyused elaborate words and their simple alternatives. Of course, there is a danger in being too economical in your use of words. Business writing writing techniques for everyday business communication emails, reports, letters, memos, proposals. Feb 24, 2015 learn about purdue universitys college of liberal arts, a college focused on strengthening the undergraduate experience, enhancing graduate education, and promoting faculty excellence. Option b, padding your writing with unnecessary, repetitious, or empty words, obscures the meaning of your writing.
But please, dont be wordy just because you think thats what a writer should do. In your effort to write well, you will profit from studying some ways to make your writing more concise. There are several techniques that can help you learn to write clearly and concisely. Techniques for reducing wordiness try not to use i and we in a formal paper. Wordiness definition of wordiness by the free dictionary. See the me 360 website for a list of references to the apa style. Writing resources eliminating wordiness hamilton college. Regardless of the reason for padded writing, we can achieve concise writing if we incorporate several strategies during the writing process and if were aware of the individual patterns of wordiness typical. Email writing dos, donts, etiquette, format sentences and paragraphs structure, length, pointers, transitions active versus passive voice wordiness and redundancy antiquated words and pompous language confusing and misused words and phrases powerpoint tips proofreading.
Here are some strategies to help you identify wordiness and decide whether, and how, to revise it. Although following these seven rules will not guarantee that you are concise, breaking them will ensure that you are wordy. How to avoid wordiness linkedin learning, formerly. Although bradley hall is regularly populated by students, close study of the building as a structure. Writing concisely is one way to capture and retain readers interest. As a general rule, you should try not to repeat a word within a sentence. We all want to communicate clearly, but wordy sentence constructions can mask the best of ideas.
This book is licensed under a creative commons byncsa 3. Read this example and think about how you could revise the sentence to remove a repeated word that adds wordiness. Seven rules for avoiding wordiness1 although length specifications in academic assignments seem to encourage wordiness, advanced writing should be concise. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short, or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell. Feb 24, 2015 purdue owl writing exercises eliminating wordiness. Purdue owl writing exercises eliminating wordiness. Writing a papers abstract is worthy practice for sharpening conciseness if a word count maximum attends it. The main causes of uneconomical writing are jargon and wordiness.