Good Writing Part 1 ~ Conciseness (Economy) - Basic Writing Skills

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Good writing has four major characteristics: conciseness (economy), clarity, variety, and unity.

 1. Conciseness (Economy)

Never make a thought more complicated than it really is. Express yourself as simply and directly as possible. Here are some errors to avoid. 

Useless Words : Eliminate all useless words.

WORDY: At the soccer match, Joel met up with two friends from elementary school.

CONCISE: At the soccer match, Joel met two friends from elementary school. (Eliminate up with.)

Duplication:  Avoid saying the same thing twice, even though in different words.

WORDY: We flew by air to Cleveland and returned back by bus.

CONCISE: We flew to Cleveland and returned by bus. (Eliminate by air and back.)

Wordy Construction: Do not use too many words to express an idea.
Condense a phrase to a word, a clause to a phrase or even a word. Be a which hunter and eliminate all unnecessary whiches (or thats).

WORDY: The newscast which was televised this morning on a local station described a suspicious car that had a license plate from the state of North Dakota.

CONCISE: This morning’s local television newscast described a suspicious car with a North Dakota license plate 

Pretentious Language: Unless you are being humorous, do not use a longer word if a simpler one will do the job.
Save the longer word for a context in which the simpler one does not work.

PRETENTIOUS: The feline member of our family loves to frolic, gambol, and cavort for considerable periods of time with the canine member of our family menage.

SIMPLER: Our cat often plays with the family dog.

Note: The first sentence might be acceptable in a humorous essay that mocks pretension. 

Piled-up Modifiers: Avoid piling adjective upon adjective, adverb upon adverb.
Where possible, use specific nouns and verbs to reduce the number of modifiers.

WORDY: The young, immature baby of but a year walked unsteadily and shakily across the floor into the outstretched, waiting arms of her waiting mother.

CONCISE: The one-year-old tottered across the floor into her mother’s outstretched arms.



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