Writing Concisely by Scott Dillon

What is concise? Concise is simply, to the point.

"Clutter is the disease of American writing," says William Zinsser in his classic text, On Writing Well. "We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon."



Tips to Writing Concisely:

Write Conversationally

“The way you speak without slang or incomplete sentences.”

Reduce Long Clauses

“Reduce long clauses to shorter phrases.”

Reduce Phrases

“Reduce phrases to single words.”

Drop the Clichés

“Overused expressions, simply avoid.”

Avoid Empty Openers

“Empty openers add nothing to the meaning of a sentence.”

Don't Overwork Modifiers

“Modifiers add nothing or little to the meaning of a sentence.”

Avoid Redundancies (Repetitious Expressions)

“Phrases that use more words than necessary to make a point.”

Examples of these tips can be found at the various sites that are cited below.

References:

Writing911, "Get to the Point! How to Prune Wordy Writing into Clear, Concise Prose ." EcoScribe Communications 2005 1. 5 Apr 2009.
http://writing911.com/writing/good-writing-tips/writing-clearly--concisely/get-to-the-point-how-to-prune-wordy-writing.html.

Nordquist, Richard. "Top 5 Tips to Cut the Clutter." About.com 04/12/2007 1. 5 Apr 2009.
http://grammar.about.com/od/words/tp/clutter_tips.htm.

Bindas, Christina. "Focal Point." GettyImages. Flickr. 5 Apr 2009
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/85186641/flickr?esource=en-us_flickr_photo