CONCISENESS

How much detail is needed in a business or technical document?

The amount of detail depends entirely upon who is going to read the document. Effective documents provide readers with all needed information without the extraneous and nonessential details. Good writing is as short as it can be without eliminating essential ideas and facts.

How much repetition is appropriate in a document?

Some repetition is helpful, especially in longer documents where readers need to be reminded of important facts or concepts. But too much repetition is annoying and makes the document wordy. Some don'ts concerning repetition are:

• Don't repeat subject lines verbatim in the text.
• Don't repeat unimportant ideas.
• Don't repeat ideas in short documents.
• Don't repeat visually represented information
  in text form.
• Don't repeat information in different forms if it
  is clear in its original form.

How can sentences be made more concise?

Sometimes two or more sentences express virtually the same idea. Words like likewise, additionally, further, besides, again, and also often reintroduce thoughts stated in a previous sentence. Look for ways to combine closely related sentences that have some words in common.

Sentences showing data can be presented in tabular form or be combined by listing the data in a series.

CAUTION: Don't overdo the combining of sentences. Leave some short sentences intact for sentence variety.

What are false subjects and how do they contribute to wordiness?

False subjects are pronouns-like it or there-that begin a sentence but do not stand for anything real:

It is possible to extract the tooth.

There is no toner in the copy machine.

There are two cats on the rug.

False subjects are extra words that only mask the true subject of a sentence. Eliminate them to be more concise:

The tooth can be extracted.

The copy machine has no toner.

Two cats are on the rug.

What are strong verbs, and how can using them help achieve conciseness?

Strong verbs are words like agree, receive, analyze, inquire, announce, replace, assume, etc. They command attention.

Weak verbs are words like am, are, is, has, made, make, was, were, etc. Although useful, they're considered weak because they appear so often in writing.

Wordiness occurs when a strong verb (analyze) is turned into a noun (analysis) and a requisite weak verb (make) is added.

	

	

    	
Wordy


		make an analysis


		made an attempt


		is of the opinion


		are in agreement


		are in receipt of


		be in compliance

	
		am making the assumption   


		is in response


		indicate by signing
		
	    
		
Concise


		analyze


		attempted


		believes


		agree


		received


		comply


		assume


		responds


		sign
		
	
	

What are some other ways to write more concisely?

Eliminate redundant words.

Wordy end result close proximity past experience personal friend unsolved problem absolutely essential contributing factor

Concise result close experience friend problem essential factor

Simplify wordy phrases.

Wordy at that time for this reason in most cases in order to until such time at a later date it is apparent that    despite the fact that

Concise then so usually to until later apparently although

Redundant words and wordy phrases just make writing bulky, so eliminate them whenever possible.