Eliminating Wordiness
 

What is wordiness?

The situation of wordiness is one in which writers attempt to utilize several words or extravagant words or jargon-laden language in the place of a few, well-chosen, concise, and less ambiguous, clearly understood words. What is the point of writing an essay?  So that someone can understand what you've got in mind.  So write clearly!  In the Information Society, we are innundated with a flood of information.  This heightens the need to choose your words thoughtfully and write concisely!  Poor writing leads to unnecessary confusion and annoyance on the part of the reader.

The clearer definition: Wordiness means using more words than necessary to express thought resulting in wordy papers that are difficult to follow.  Another expression for wordiness:  overly flowery language.  Most writers go through a stage of wordiness...get over it quickly!

What causes wordiness?

Wordiness is a result of idea generation. Most people write wordy sentences and paragraphs when they are writing early drafts. In final drafts, however, writers need to trim those wordy passages.

Many people write wordy papers because they are trying to make their ideas sound important by using long words and intricate sentences. They think that their writing must be complicated to seem professional. But although these writers are trying to impress their readers, they often end up confusing them. The best writing is clear, concise, and easy to understand. Your ideas are much more impressive when your reader does not have to fight to understand you.

When a writer can't find the "perfect" word, s/he often ends up putting a long phrase in its place. Some wordiness, then, is the result of a writer's frustration at not being able to find that perfect word.

Finally, passive sentences and other constructions that hide the subject are often wordy. For example, the passive sentence "The cat was eaten by the dog" has many more words than the active sentence "The dog ate the cat." One passive sentence is OK; a paper full of passive sentences is full of extra words.

How to avoid wordiness:

Revise! Don't be afraid of wordiness in drafts. Write down what you need to write down at first. Then, in revision, go through your paper carefully, cutting unnecessary sentences, phrases, and words.

Have confidence in your ideas. You don't need to make them sound more complex than they are. Say what you mean completely but concisely.

Write out loud! That is, say what you're writing out loud as you write it. Most people don't speak in a wordy way, so if you can say what you mean, transfer it directly on to the page or screen. Sometimes it's easier to find that "perfect" word by talking through several choices.

Avoid passive constructions. You can write a passive sentence down and then change it. Find the person or thing in the sentence that is doing the action and make it the subject. For example, the thing doing the acting in the sentence "The cat was eaten by the dog" is the dog. Make "the dog" the subject: "The dog ate the cat."

Use active verbs rather than forms of "to be." For example, change "It is difficult in situations when every sentence in a paper is marked 'wordy'" to "Students panic when their professors mark every sentence in a paper as wordy."