Wordiness means stating ideas, concepts, andor thoughts in an excessively lengthy, redundant, and verbose manner. Wordiness for the writer also means using long words when there are good short ones available, using uncommon words when familiar ones are handy, using words that look. Write about literature in the present tense and use the active voice. Wordiness can seriously detract from the coherency and quality of your writing and will likely frustrate your readers. The chapters and sections, outlined below, provide useful guidelines and strategies for a range of writing components. If youre struggling with adding text to a pdf file, like filling out a pdf form that doesnt have interactive fields or writing comments on a document shared with your friends, there are several useful tools that can help you do this easily.
The writing center writing concisely what this handout is about this handout helps you identify wordiness in your sentences, paragraphs, and essays and offers strategies for writing concisely. Most inexperienced writers use only the voices within their. As we turn to the next topic, we realize that we must. In the event that fire breaks out, leave the files behind. The writing center offers the following handouts, many of which include exercises and answer keys. Thus, the phrase quality of content refers to the significance of the. Contrast with conciseness, directness, and clarity. Do you know that you create a persona with the voice and tone of your writing. For writing or editing documents, you may think that ms office is the primary application you need. Burning words dont have to be a bad thing effective writing is succinct enough that it engraves itself in the. Business writing primer the short primer distills the essential characteristics of business writing. How can i write with a stylus on a pdf file with surface rt. Wordiness is one of the most common esl mistakes and happens when a writer, either intentionally or unintentionally, uses far too many words or unnecessarily complex or abstract words.
There are different versions of free pdf writer for each operating system, depending on the users requirement. The overuse of words is a very problematic issue in any form of writing. The new curriculum was designed in terms of student. Avoid distracting wordiness exercise a revise these sentences to eliminate distracting wordiness. The symbol indicates work that you should turn into your teachermentor in addition to your actual finished piece of writing.
By eliminating wordiness, you can clarify your meaning. Suggested revisions are provided on the last page of this handout. Wordy sentences use too many useless words that clutter writing. Wordiness not only increases the length of your work without adding meaning, but also makes your writing harder to understand. The role of chinese efl learners rhetorical strategy use. Staar english i expository writing score point 1 the essay represents a very limited writing performance. This is in contrast to analytic or pragmatic forms of writing. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences. How to avoid wordiness linkedin learning, formerly. Sometimes we overload our sentences with unnecessary words and phrases, perhaps because we.
For the next phase of the writing test, you are asked to edit the following news release for distribution to the national business and financial media. Repetitive sentences, colorless word choices, and deadweight, filler phrases can bore your readers so much. Use a formal voice when writing paragraphs and essays. Eliminating excessive, confusing, or redundant words from sentences can oftentimes make meanings much clearer. Writers who overload their sentences with nominalizaons tend to. American journal of business education fourth quarter 2008 volume 1, number 2 85 using rubrics to assess accounting students writing, oral presentations, and ethics skills joseph s. Using three simple strategies will help avoid wordiness and thus make sentences more concise, more effective, and easier to understand. Wordiness also tends to occur when were struggling to clarify our ideas or when were tired and not thinking clearly. It takes planning and hard work, but writing is a skill, and like any other skill it involves learning the steps, learning how to apply those stepsand lots of practice. Eliminating excessive, confusing, or redundant words from sentences can oftentimes make meanings.
Revision practice writing concisely palomar college. Creative writing definition of genre creative writing, a form of artistic expression, draws on the imagination to convey meaning through the use of imagery, narrative, and drama. Responding with the question which app are you using to write on pdf files totally begs the question. Although such words and phrases can be meaningful in the appropriate context. Eliminating excessive, confusing, or redundant words from sentences can oftentimes make. Passive voice wordy the documents have been photocopied by my assistant. Writing style academic voice developing an academic voice. Here are some tips to help keep your writing to the point. Keeping your paper concise strengthens its clarity and gives it. Explores weak words, redundancy, cliches, wordy phrases and more. One contributing factor to wordy writing is the addition of unnecessary words, phrases, and ideas. The writer develops the essay in a manner that demonstrates a thorough understanding of the expository writing task.
Humorous, animated presentation about writing concise sentences and avoiding wordiness. Succinct writing effectively engraves itself in the readers memory. A lesswordy way to describe wordiness is using too many words. Writing concisely center for writing and speaking at some point in your educational career, youve probably received feedback on a paper that says something like too wordy or be more concise. Summarizing a research article university of washington.
This guide walks you through writing a timed paper, but it can also be used for general writing practice. Wordiness worksheet one good way to make your writing more energetic is to eliminate excess verbiage. Techniques for reducing wordiness try not to use i and we in a formal paper. Eliminating wordiness lewis university writing center. This 4page printable resource includes an introductory page with explanations and examples of problems with wordiness in writing 40 examples of inflated commonlyused phrases that students improve with shorte. Some steps toward concise writing eliminating wordiness is a crucial part of revising prose. Eliminating wordiness from your writing at the present time in the present circumstances at this point in time use now or today or nowadays. Though writing is easier for some than others, its important to know that anyone can write well. Some examples of how you can condense and thus strengthen your writing follow. Sometimes we overload our sentences with unnecessary words and phrases, perhaps because we have come to believe that more is better as writing is in action films. Wordiness, says robert hartwell fiske, is arguably the biggest obstacle to clear writing and speaking 101 wordy phrases, 2005. Editing for wordiness school of liberal arts iupui. Danger signals and ways to react one of the most efficient ways to improve your writing is to edit it for conciseness. We take you, stepbystep, through the writing process.
As strunk and white tell us in the elements of style 4th ed. You are instructed to correct grammatical and associated press style errors, simplifying phrasing, and reduce wordiness to improve readability. Get to the heart of your argument so that your readers will not get lost. American journal of business education fourth quarter 2008. A less wordy way to describe wordiness is using too many words.
The paper is obviously yours, so you dont need to use phrases such as i think, i believe, or it seems to me. The beautiful, majestic, breathtaking city of rome was visited by many tourists from america during the hot summer. Umc writing center handouts this handout is adapted from materials originally created by shelly powers of the university writing center at the university of texas at austin uwc. If you find yourself sticking closely to the original language and making only minor. This lesson gives tips on how to identify and reduce wordiness. Techniques for reducing wordinessnew macalester college. If fire breaks out, leave the files behind in terms of should usually be revised out of your prose. We intend these samplesin most cases, taken from ford school student writingto be considered in. The purpose of expository writing is toexplain something, that is, to provide readers with information worth knowing and thinking about. David morse and elena delbanco, ford school writing instructors. Recognize your own wordy sentences and know how to edit them to be.
Eliminate unnecessary determiners and modifiers writers sometimes clog up their prose with one or more extra words or phrases that seem to determine narrowly or to modify the meaning of a noun but dont actually add to the meaning of the sentence. For general instructions on how to apply for financial aid, please visit the office of undergraduate financial aid website. A ctive voice concise m y assistant photocopied the documents. Let students have some writing fun as they learn how to be concise in their writing. Burning words succinct writing effectively engraves are good. While these handouts are designed primarily for ell students, anyone seeking to.
How to sample essay without losing wealth in absolute sense it sample be very impractical to. Robinsonrevised winter 2009 1 learning centre avoiding wordiness in both academic and business writing, conciseness is important. Examples of policy writing david morse and elena delbanco. Join judy steinerwilliams for an indepth discussion in this video, how to avoid wordiness, part of writing in plain english. Concise writing expresses ideas without unnecessary wordiness. However, as pdf format becomes more and more used, free pdf writers also becomes increasingly popular. Keeping your paper concise strengthens its clarity and gives it a smooth flow. This powerpoint is a great addition to a research or formal writing unit. Essay writing companion for ged or other writing practice. The purpose for this style guide is to provide both an introduction and a reference for military broadcast journalists. The use of more words than necessary to effectively convey meaning in speech or writing.
Pdf is not reading the case, so reading as you have fce research source for each page. This genre includes poetry, fiction novels, short stories, scripts, screenplays, and creative nonfiction. 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. For most writing, its best to avoid unnecessary phrases. Policy contributes to global warming, not accounting for my opinion that u. You may have been struggling to think ideas through as you. Being concise can be a difficult task, in part because concision is difficult to explain or define.
The business writing guide was created to help business students write more professional documents. Eliminating wordiness although adding words helps fill pages, information that doesn. Wordiness read over your compositions, and, when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out. There are several reasons that wordiness impacts clarity. Sometimes repetition or wordiness causes minor disruptions in the flow of the essay. Jun 19, 2019 sending files in pdf format is very common for most of us. Rewrite the following sentences in the space provided. Trim the fire was a terrifying situation and a depressing experience for all of us. Editing for wordiness words are like acid the more theyre condensed, the more they burn. Your goal is to make the text as clear and concise as possible, using the strategies discussed in class, without altering the meaning of the originals. This can make sentences confusing, obscuring meaning, slowing down the reader, and distracting from the overall message.
This can make sentences confusing, obscuring meaning, slowing down the reader, and distracting. Writing style the style requirements in the manual are intended to facilitate clear communication. Students are walked through meaning, examples, and have opportunities to dissect sentences. Use of languageconventions the writers word choice is purposeful and precise. You may have been struggling to think ideas through as you wroteand piled up alternative wordings. Avoid overusing it is, there is, and there are weak expletives at the beginning of sentences. The student wants to write on a pdf but he cannot do it. The student clearly says he cannot write on the files. Wordiness is the tendency to use more words than necessary. This powerpoint walks students through what it means to be concise writers by using wordiness and redundancy examples. 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. Your goal is to make the text as clear and concise as possible, using the strategies discussed in class. The primary audience is dinfos students at all levels. Wordiness occurs when a writer uses more words than necessary to express a thought.