Using fewer words to convey clear ideas will always engage readers. Concise writing grabs the reader’s attention because it does not use any extra verbs, nouns, and nominalizations.
A writer’s work becomes more effective by avoiding redundant phrases and conveying the idea quickly. Improve concise writing by engaging in writing exercises, reading other exemplary works, and consciously avoiding the temptation to use long sentences. Here are a few ideas to make every writing piece rich and attractive and creating lasting memories for the readers. Your New Year writing goals might become a reality with this helpful guide.
Improve Vocabulary to Avoid Nominalizations
Read the works of other authors, dictionaries and use various online resources to improve your vocabulary. Using apt words instead of extraneous sentences will make the writing look rich, exquisite, and easy to understand. Writing “he assessed the software,” instead of “he decided to do a thorough check on the pros and cons of the software,” will interest the readers better.
Always aim to keep the sentences under 30 words and paragraphs under 300 words maximum. Convey one single idea by starting with logic or statement, explain the reason or cause that adds to the argument and highlight what you wish to convey precisely.
This software helps in improving all your performance challenges related to managing a strict deadline and increasing productivity by helping you keep track of your daily progress through automatic backup.
The software makes automatic backups of daily progress to increase productivity and manage deadlines better.
Logic – The software takes automatic backup.
Cause – of daily progress to increase productivity.
Highlighting point – manage deadlines better.
Both sentences convey the same message. But, the second one is easy to read and remember.
Cultivating Brevity in Daily Writing
Avoiding filler words and correct noun usage is essential to master concise writing as they are tricky to use. Avoid using the common filler words like “that,” “of,” or “up” as they make the sentence unnecessarily long. E.g., I climbed the stairs/ I climbed up the stairs. Do not start a sentence with “this,” “there is,” “there are,” and “it.”
Always start a sentence with subject, and use a noun along with these four words – this, that, these, and those. For example – avoid “this is unbearable” and try “The pain is unbearable.” Avoid writing “I like these” and write, “I love these colors.” Try to avoid extra nouns like, “these are the basic and necessary steps you must do,” and write “do these important steps.”
Avoiding these common mistakes will make the writing look much more professional and exciting to read. Following this set of collective rules is termed brevity, meaning short and to the point. Incorporate brevity in the emails or resumes, business writing, letters, and all other daily writing forms to save time and convey strong and short messages effectively.
Proper Adjective and Minimal Adverb Usage
Improve the vocabulary by expanding your knowledge of various common but less used adjectives. There are plenty of ways to shorten a sentence using the right adjectives. Some common examples are very good – superb, really boring – tedious, too harsh – severe.
Correct use of adjectives is vital to set the mood of the sentence and create an emotional appeal. Most of the “Show don’t tell” writing principles stress using proper adjectives to convey emotions. Adjectives are the key to good writing, and mastering the correct usage of adjectives through training and expanding knowledge will improve the quality of writing extensively.
Try to avoid adverbs usage unless necessary, as most editors try to filter out nearly all the adverbs unless it is indispensable to use them. The thumb rule is to use the adverbs only to mention color, size, or quantity. Most beginner writers tend to use adverbs with “ly” extensively. Instead of writing “quickly,” try to write “quick to.”
Effective Active Voice Usage
Minimizing the usage of adverbs will also lead to writing efficiently in the active voice. Passive voice writing is often not preferred in business communications and official reports. The modern writing comprising blogs and social media also does not encourage using passive voice sentences.
Writing in active voice and using passive voice only in unavoidable circumstances is an efficient way to showcase excellent writing skills. Replace adverb usage with exciting descriptions that paint a picture of the situation or background. Classic novels do a great job of describing the situation without excessive adverb usage.
Read them regularly and try recreating the everyday modern conditions in a similar style to improve concise writing. Read contemporary science fiction to learn about brief descriptions.
Try Various Writing Exercises
Writing, as is with painting, is a skill that will improve only with constant practice. Try various writing exercises incorporating the points mentioned above. Start by creating an exciting tweet about this article in 140 characters using just 22 words.
Read the work of prominent authors like Kurt Vonnegut, who is well-known for concise writing. Start writing their work in your own words for two minutes, setting up a timer, and write in your style.
Once the time is over, compare your writing with the original piece and spot the differences in the wording. Now count the words in your essay, shorten them in half, compare your shortened work with the original part, and note the improvement.
Select a caption or appealing newspaper heading and paraphrase it within 20 words without using any filler words. Try the numerous other writing exercises available online and judge where you stand in using articulate words as a writer.
Conclusion
Write for your audience and with a will to provide something valuable and easy for them to understand. Do not overstuff words. Try to edit and re-edit several times before you are certain that every message is concise. Building a loyal readership is all about providing variety and trying not to be monotonous. Avoid making your sentences long and complicated. Organize your ideas, streamline the writing structure and convey the message confidently without any extra frills to bait the audience.
Leon Collier is a UK-based academic writer and editor working among the best professional paper writers. His current job is with https://my-assignment.help/nursing-assignment-help/ where he helps medical students write research papers, essays and lab reports. When not busy writing, you can find him reading books and novels or playing tabletop games with his buddies. Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12.
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