Wordiness

1. Wordiness There are many ways to take a reduction in the number of words you may or may not use in your composition of sentences in your writing.

2. A Poem Directions: Take out the extra words from the poem to reveal its original state. Hint: 59 words need to be removed (including words in the title)

3. And the solution! Harlem What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or does it fester like a sore- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over Like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags Like a heavy load Or does it explode?

4. The Keys for Eliminating Wordiness Trust a word to do its work. Make every word count. Strive for strong nouns and verbs. Avoid too many adjectives, adverbs, or prepositional phrases.

5. Tip 1: Delete redundancy. Watch out for redundant modifiers, categories, phrases, etc. A modifier= A word, phrase, or clause that qualifies a noun or verb Examples: End result Peace and quiet True fact Each and every Climb up ____in color, appearance, shape, etc. New initiative Over and done with Past history Heavy in weight

6. Tip 2: Replace wordy expressions with single words. On the grounds that……………………because For the reason that……………………..because Due to the fact that……………………..because Prior to………………………………………before At the conclusion of…………………….after On a regular basis……………………….regularly At the present point in time………….now During the course of…………………….during For the purpose of……………………….for, to

7. Tip 3: Delete meaningless hedges and intensifiers. Hedges: Perhaps, sometimes, somewhat, etc. Intensifiers: very, extremely, always, absolutely, etc. Example: I was rather surprised by your somewhat unexpected decision to come home.

8. Tip 4: Watch out for expletives!!!!! No, not THAT kind of expletive (although they are probably not a good idea either!) Expletives: Words like it, there, and what that fill up space in a sentence and delay the sentence’s meaning Examples: It is our recommendation that…, it is often the case that…, there is one problem…, there are many…, etc.

9. Tip 5: Prefer action words to nominalizations. Nominalization: the noun form of a verb Examples: I need to make a revision on that paper. They need to undertake a study of tardiness. The officials will conduct an investigation. I will take that under consideration. I will make a suggestion that school start later.

10. Tip 6: Avoid long strings of prepositions. Examples: Give enough space to the override for access by a screwdriver without causing damage to the pressure valves on the inside of the unit. Each device on the list from the vendor must be fitted with a nameplate on the outside of its casing for the purpose of ease of identification by inspectors.

11. Tip 7: Prefer active verbs to passive verbs. Active Voice: The subject of the sentence DOES the verb Passive Voice: The subject of the sentence is acted upon I fixed the computer. The computer was fixed by me. She wrote the essay. The essay was written by her. He is driving the car. The car is being driven by him. I made mistakes. Mistakes were made.

12. Tip 8: Prefer single nouns to adjective phrases. “Based on the fact that the author is pessimistic, he tends to write negative books.” Change to “The author’s pessimism causes him to write negative books.” “She was worried about how sad her husband had become.” Change to “She was worried about her husband’s sadness.”

13. Practice! You were asked by Ms. Ratliff to complete a revision on your essay prior to turning in a revised copy. He found his neighbor who lived next door to be attractive in appearance. At this point in time we can't ascertain the reason as to why the screen door was left open.