Omit Needless Words

If I wrote as well as I spoke, I’d be in a world of trouble. My speech is rife with “very”s and “kinda”s, riddled with “um”s and “ah”s. If it were possible, I’d wire my brain to the network and communicate with everyone through neuro-email. The more time I have to consider my words, the less I sound like a gibbering idiot.

Writing is re-writing. One goal of re-writing is condensation. Your second draft ought to be shorter than your first. A second draft is a first draft on Weight Watchers. You condense by removing irrelevant material, avoiding repetition, and omitting needless words. As William Strunk put it in The Elements of Style:

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Which words are needless? Strunk covers common verbosities in his book, such as “the fact that,” “who is,” and “which was.” Children’s writer Casey McCormick rails against adverbs and adjectives. Don’t use a verb phrase like “ran speedily” when “dashed” will work. Strike most instances of “really” and “very” from your writing – and demand that the survivors defend themselves. Your writing will flow and float without all that garbage weighing it down.