The fewest possible words conveying the most precise meaning — that, in a nutshell, is what a well-trimmed piece of writing should look like.   Short and concise is only one part of the equation; it has to communicate exactly what you want to impart to the reader, too.

Some writers can pull that ideal balance off in the first draft.  Unless you’re wickedly blessed in both talent and skill, though, don’t count on it.  Like most of us, you’ll need to revise, refine and rework your draft in order to get there.

When you write this way, your writing can be described as graceful and elegant.   The lack of unnecessary language makes every element count,  allowing the reader to focus on the content, rather than the excess of words on the page.  Reading feels like it flows at a pace that mirrors real time, rather than slow-motion.

There are things you can look out for during review that will steer you towards wordy elements in your text.  Some writing software, in fact, can point them out to you, so use those if you want help on this end.  Another thing you can do is imagine the action you’re describing, matching the cadence of the prose with the events taking place in your head.

Without unnecessary clutter, writing becomes more concise.  As a result, it’s a lot more pleasant and far easier to read through.  Contrary to common belief, you don’t need a full-time editor with crazy skills to make that happen on a consistent basis.  If you have a software for writing at your disposal, concise writing can be what your regular output looks like.

What kinds of things can a good software for writing help you with to facilitate that?

1. Redundancies.  Many common redundant phrasings and constructions can be easily caught by a writing software.  Often, in a much more prolific manner than even a human proofreader could.
2. Intensifiers.  Software for writing can bring your attention to modifiers that serve no purpose than to intensify an adjective, such as “very,” “totally” and “absolutely.”
3. Expletive constructions. These types of structures can rob a sentence of its energy before it even gets a chance to work.  Fortunately, a corrective software for writing can immediately catch it and suggest a fix.
4. Unnecessary phrases.  Phrases like “all things considered” and “as a matter of fact” might be necessary, at times.  Mostly, though, they’re just a waste of space.  Software can catch those instances and point them out.
5. Clichés and euphemisms.  Tired language can be easily remedied by a proper rewrite.  A software for writing can usually offer some good suggestions, apart from accurately catching them when they occur.

Wordiness is a seductive trap. It’s true. How many times have you sat down to write and found the allure of throwing more words than is necessary irresistible? After all, an extra word here and an extra phrase there shouldn’t affect clarity all that much, all while giving us a heftier word count to run with.

Unfortunately, even a single unnecessary word every other sentence can add up. That extra clarity lost can multiply when taken as a while. Minor transgressions can lead to poor writing that’s more than the sum of its parts and that’s the biggest problem with wordiness.

Why do people construct wordy sentences? There are three main reasons:

1. To pad their word counts. Many writers get accustomed to throwing in a few extras just to make required page lengths. It’s definitely easier than going back and constructing an extra argument or digging up additional facts. Lazy editing is a major culprit to wordy constructions. Everybody knows it.
2. To be ambiguous. Some writers like to make their thoughts invisible, whatever their personal reasons might be. Being wordy is an easy way to achieve that.
3. It just happens. Some people just aren’t that good when creating early drafts. As such, their work is riddled with unnecessary ramblings and explanations.

Like all writing problems, wordiness is best handled during editing and revision. Sure, ridding your text of unnecessary elements is a chore that’s not at all easy to accomplish, even with the help of the best English writing assistant. But it must be done.

Need a single reference to run through when editing for conciseness?  Use this handy checklist along with your favorite writing improvement software and tighten up that writing.

1. Redundant phrases.  No matter how vigilant you think you are to redundancy, we all eventually slip and end up saying the same things more than once.  From commonly employed phrases (the ones you don’t even notice, such as “true facts” and “twelve noon”) to being overly descriptive (resulting in multiple ways of expressing the same thought), it’s an error you’ll have to continually check for.

2. Redundant abbreviations.  As a corollary to the above, pay special attention to abbreviated redundancies, such as ATM machine (the M already stands for machine) and HIV virus (the V already stands for virus).

3. Pare down.  Some clauses can be shrunk into phrases; some phrases can be shrunk into single words.  Unless you’re intentionally trying to pad your word count, look out for ways to condense your figures of speech.

4. Modifiers that don’t add value.  Avoid using words that are only meant to exaggerate, rather than offer additional clarity.  These include words like “very,” “extremely” and “severely.”  They’re “really” useless.

5. Expletive constructions.  Sentences that begin with “there is,” “there are” and “it is” are common devices that tend to produce unnecessarily long constructions.  They rob sentences of energy right at the onset.  They make

6. Take out clichés and euphemisms.  Recognize clichés (those expressions that used to sound cool, but are now just lame) and euphemisms (“safe” ways of expressing something that’s potentially risky), then work to eliminate them from your writing.

Has anyone ever told you that your writing tends to fall on the wordy side?  If you’ve been accused of excessive wordiness, you may want to consider a few strategies to help leave your writing more concise, apart from using a working grammar software.

Give Yourself A Breather. Don’t revise your paper as soon as you edit it.  Always spend a few minutes a way from your draft before returning to revise it.  Ideally, you shouldn’t edit until the next day.  If you’re pressed for time, though, a quick coffee break or a couple of smokes will do.

Take Notes When You Edit. Taking notes will help you keep a tab on what patterns of wordiness you end up regularly committing.  That way, you can watch out for them during your future writing endeavors.

Pay Particular Attention To Difficult Paragraphs. If there are specific sections of your writing that you struggled on, pay particular attention to them during the editing phase.  More than likely, these areas will contain the worst offenses when it comes to wordiness.

Replace Passive Verbs. You’ve heard this advice a thousand times before.  That’s because passive verbs tend to lead to wordy sentences.  Update them to their active forms and immediately cut the text down to size.

Prepositional Phrases. Those relationship words like “of,” “from” and “after” should be replaced with one-word modifiers.  You’ll be amazed at how much wordiness you can shave off from eliminating these alone.  You’ll likely end up having to rewrite offending sentences, though.

Watch Out For Specific Words. Check for specific filler words such as “which,” “that,” “should,” “would,” and “could.”  Eliminate them whenever you can.

Many people think that effective writing needs to be long.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  In fact, some of the most amazing writing I’ve comes across are short pieces that are simply unforgettable.  Want the most poignant example?  The Gettysburg Address is made up of all but 272 words, yet it’s the most quoted speech in the history of the United States.

Chiseled Writing

If you look at short pieces that make the most impact, you’ll notice that they’re chiseled to the hilt.  Every word counts, every phrase matters.  In a term we used to describe great albums when I was a young lad, “It’s all killer, no filler.”

Chiseled writing is all about weighing, parsing and refashioning every aspect of a work.  It’s not the easiest thing to accomplish.  Yet, putting in all that extra time and effort to rework pieces for better quality pays huge dividends.

How To Keep Your Writing Short And Memorable

1. Pick out your topic carefully.  Make sure it’s something you can address within a short piece.  If you can explain the story to a random stranger on a train ride to work, that’s usually ideal.

2. Take in-depth notes about the subject.  That will ensure that you’ll eventually settle with the best information once you get down to writing.

3. Transitions can take the hit.  You heard that right.  When you’re writing short 300 or 400 word pieces, you can forsake transitions without much negative effect.  They’ll tend to drag paragraphs longer, leaving less space for useful information.

4. Edit ruthlessly.  Armed with your best writing software and an unquenchable gusto, edit that piece without mercy.  If a sentence, clause or word doesn’t contribute anything of value, chuck it out.

Want to write more concisely?  Let me warn you now: it’s not easy.  However, if you put in the work and do what’s needed, you can end up turning your prose into a bundle of delight.

Expletives.  There’s no shorter way to wordy prose (or boring writing, for that matter) than overusing expletives.  If you don’t know the type, it’s when you write phrases that use articles like “it,” “there” and “that,” followed by a “be” verb.  Saying  “It is the manager’s job to watch over the team’s results,” for instance, is an example of this.  You can easily write that sentence a whole other way, of course, as in “The manager watches over the team’s results.”  Notice how less wordy and tighter that reads?  Use expletives for extra emphasis, but avoid it as much as you can.

Nominalizations. These words are, essentially, verbs used in their noun form.  In the first example above, the verb “watch” is used in noun form; in the second example, it takes the place of the main verb.

Infinitives. There is one real rule in using infinitives: use only when it’s the best fit.  Otherwise, ditch the “to check,” “to watch,” and all the “to +verb” constructs with their more straightforward counterpart.

Wordy writing sucks – that’s all there really is to it.  These three simple things, coupled with a grammar checking software, can get you from bad to decent without entailing much heavy work on your part.

When writing emails, there is one cardinal rule I always tell people to follow.  It’s called “Get to the point, stupid,” and it’s the single most important rule there is.

Some people tend to drone needlessly in emails.  While an introduction to the topic is fine (if the recipient is not duly aware of the details surrounding the topic), that’s all the extra writing you need.  Everything else  should drive the main point of home.

In essays and articles, “extra” writing is largely frowned upon.  For emails, it’s completely unacceptable.  Essays and articles, unless they’re specifically required reading, can be put off for more permitting times.  Email, on the other hand, usually needs to be attended to, as part of your everyday activities.

Suffice to say, the longer you get to the point, the more of your recepients’ time you are wasting and the greater their disdain towards you becomes.  Make sure to use a writing software to help trim out extraneous phrases, all while consciously working towards much more concise messages every single time.

Instead of saying, “It is prudent, at this time, to consider the consequences of partnering with JP Conglomerate,” it makes more sense to just go ahead and state that “It’s time to consider partnering with JP Conglomerate.”  For an even more pointed approach, you can go bluntly say that “I suggest partnering with JP Conglomerate,” since that’s likely what you mean anyway.

The faster you get the point, the easier time will be enjoyed by those reading your emails.  So why aren’t you doing it yet?