Concise Writing: Cutting Without Losing Meaning

Wordiness is not a style — it is unedited thought. This page holds the conversion table and the four cutting rules that turn padded prose into dense, professional writing.

The Conversion Table

Learn these swaps by heart; they account for most of the fat in institutional English.

• due to the fact that → because
• in spite of the fact that → although
• in the event that → if
• at this point in time → now
• in order to → to
• a large number of → many
• has the ability to → can
• make a decision → decide
• conduct an investigation → investigate
• in the near future → soon
• with regard to → about
• it is important to note that → (delete — then keep the note)

The Four Cutting Rules

1. Re-verb noun piles: “make an analysis of” → “analyze”. 2. Delete throat-clearing: openers that announce importance instead of having it. 3. Kill doubled words: “past history”, “future plans”, “repeat again”, “each individual”. 4. One example, fully lived, beats three examples gestured at — cut the escorts, keep the star.

• “The reason why is because” → “because” (one costume is enough).
• “In my opinion, I think that…” → “I think…” (or state it as fact if you can defend it).
• “A period of two weeks” → “two weeks”.
• Prefer verbs to their noun costumes whenever the sentence is announcing action.

What Never to Cut

Concision has protected species: the concession that makes you credible, the example that makes you believed, the number that makes you checkable, the hedge that makes you honest, and the human detail that makes you read. The goal is not the fewest words — it is no words doing nothing. A dense 40-word sentence outranks a slack 25-word one every time.

• Cut decoration; never cut evidence.
• Cut announcements; never cut the claim itself.
• If a deletion changes the meaning, it was not fat — restore it.
• Read the cut version aloud: density should sound like confidence, not like a telegram.

Watch Out: Common Errors

Practice

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