Tighten your writing

Prof. Mark Grabowskimarkgrabowski.com

Use active voice

• Reword passive voice where possible. Whether referring to general passive (“The food was eaten by him” instead of “He ate the food”) or present progressive passive (“The food is being served by the waiters” instead of “the waiters are serving the food”), most of the time a sentence will be stronger if the passive voice is avoided. An easy way to seek and destroy unwanted passive construction is do a “Find” for ing, was, is, it was, and there was, to name a few.

Eliminate That Unnecessary Word• Which word, you ask? “That.” It’s one of the most

superfluous words, helpful for clarity about 10 percent of the time. The other 90 percent, it’s filler and makes your work seem unpolished. Read these sentences after removing the offending word.

– She felt that her heart was breaking. – The strawberry chiffon was the most delicious cake

that I’ve ever eaten.

(Of course, the word has its uses; just be sure you’re choosing correctly between that and which.)

Adverbs/Adjectives Overuse • Adverbs and adjectives are necessary for

expressive writing, but adverbs are often abused. Don’t let these overused filler words obscure your work:

– Very, Really, Actually, Probably, Definitely, Just, Somewhat, Extremely, Pretty, Kind of, Rather

• According to The Elements of Style: “These are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words.”

Cut the weasel words• All writers have pet words that pop up like

weeds in their written work. Common examples include start to, began to, in order to, and just. These are literary tics that disrupt the flow of a sentence—almost as distracting as a physical tic.

– I went to the garage in order to warm up the car. – It looks like it might start to rain.– He enrolled at school in the Fall of 2017.

Don’t be verbose• Don’t use multiple words when one word will

do. For example, the phrase “at this point in time” is a circumlocution for “now.” Similarly, just say “9 p.m.” instead of “9:00 p.m. in the evening.”

• Remove redundancies, such as:– Actual fact, forever and ever, major breakthrough,

past history, plan ahead, postpone until later, expected surprise, written down, unintentional mistake

Eliminate “currently”

• Avoid “currently.” “Currently” is virtually always redundant. Don’t write: “Malik Brown is currently a communications director.” If Malik Brown is anything, he’s that at that moment; you don’t need “currently” to clarify. Just get rid of it.

Avoid there is / there are• Eliminate “there is” or “there are” at the

beginning of sentences This is often a symptom of lazy writing. There are lots of better, more interesting ways to start sentences. Oops. See how easy it is to make this mistake? Instead of starting a sentence with “there is,” try turning the phrase around to include a verb or start with you. For example, replace the sentence above with “Start your sentences in a more interesting way.” If your copy includes a lot of phrases that begin with “there is” or “there are,” put some time into rewriting most of them.

Use contractions• Which sounds more personable? – I am heading to the market that is close to my

house. – I’m heading to the market that’s close to my

house.• Contractions make your writing sound

friendlier, like you’re (not you are) a real person. And that makes it easier to connect with readers.

• Contractions can also make your story easier to read and comprehend.

Tightening Exercise

Now, try applying the tips you just learned. Visit:

http://bit.ly/2dGVne4

Sources• The Write Life: “25 Editing Tips for Tightening

Your Copy,””http://thewritelife.com/edit-your-copy/

• Positive Writer: “6 Quick Tricks to Help You Tighten Up Your Writing,” at http://positivewriter.com/tighten-your-writing/

• Grammarly: “5 Exercises to Tighten Your Writing for 2014’s National Day on Writing,” at http://bit.ly/2eJWd7x

• Udemy: “Redundancy Examples: How to Find Redundancy in Writing,” https://blog.udemy.com/redundancy-examples/