Wordiness

In any piece of academic or business writing the main idea is to get your point, and any associated arguments, across without wasting the reader’s time. In a novel, flowery language and archaic phrases can be used to create an ambience, but essays, reports, and any transactional correspondence should be written as succinctly as possible. Don’t feel bad if it takes you a while to re-write a short piece so it is clearer; it often takes more time to write a short concise note or email than a longer letter!

Therefore, it is important to re-read your work for any wordiness which can be caused by unnecessarily long-winded phrases or by nonessential repetition. Passive sentences, extra clauses and sentences starting without a specific subject can all create wordiness.

Superfluous phrases:	Substitute with:
In close proximity to	near, nearby
In order to	to
With reference to	concerning, about
With regards to	regarding
Beginning in the year of 1969	beginning in 1969
For the simple reason that	due to, because, since
On account of	because of, due to
On the grounds of	because of, due to
Until such time as	until
Assuming that	if, given
After this happens	then
At all times	always
For the express purpose of	to, for
During this time	while
It is envisioned that	-
At this point in time	now, at this time
Made the discovery that	discovered
In this day and age	nowadays, today
Gave an indication	indicated
Subsequent to	after, then
In the first place	first,
In short supply	in demand, scarce, lack of
There are seldom any people who	few
In the process of writing	writing
In the neighbourhood of	around, about
For the duration of one year	for one year
If it is at all possible	if possible
In the normal course of events	normally
At a later date	later
Excessive amounts of	too much
Of a friendly nature	friendly
Have the belief that	believe
A cheque for the amount of	a cheque for

Extraneous words	Use only these:
Past history	history
Absolutely complete	complete
Totally finished	finished
One hundred percent done	done
The colour green	green
Join together	join
Circular in shape	circular
Various different	various or different
New innovative	new or innovative
Quickly hurry	hurry, rush
Whisper quietly	whisper

Active sentences are easier than passive sentences to read and understand.

X The economy is in need of a major overhaul.
The economy needs a major overhaul.

X The new law passed by the government was there to assist the unemployed.
The government passed a new law to assist the unemployed.

Can an adjective be used instead of a modifying clause?

X The passengers who were affected were treated at once.
The affected passengers were treated at once.

X The evidence given by the soldier was misleading.
The soldier gave misleading evidence.

Try to avoid starting a sentence with ‘there’ or ‘it’. This will also stop problems with subject-verb agreement and vagueness.

X There are six features of the new model car which we will be highlighting in our advertising campaign.
We will be highlighting six features of the new model car in our advertising campaign.