Simplify!

I’ve said it a million times, but I’m gonna keep saying it. It’s very, very important to keep our writing simple, clear, and fluff-free. I include myself in this reminder, because I need to be reminded, too.

Some words in example from Franklin D. Roosevelt by way of William Zinsser, author of the legendary On Writing Well.

“… Franklin D. Roosevelt when he tried to convert into English his own government’s memos, such as this blackout order of 1942:

Such preparations shall be made as will completely obscure all Federal buildings and non-Federal buildings occupied by the Federal government during an air raid for any period of time from visibility by reason of internal or external illumination.

‘Tell them,’ Roosevelt said, ‘that in buildings where they have to keep the work going to put something across the windows.”  (Zinsser, 1998)

Filed under: Wordiness, Writing

Due to the Fact that, In Order to, Because of the Fact that, etc.

If you are looking for ways to make your writing more concise (and I hope you are), watch out for “bulky” phrases that add unnecessary words to your sentences. Below, a table of some commonly used bulky phrases and potentially better options. There may be some cases in which the bulkier phrase sounds better, and that’s okay.

I know it’s tempting to choose these phrases to add “variety” to your writing. That isn’t necessary. You can reuse words like because, to, and so quite often before they will feel repetitive to your reader.

Because of the fact that	Because
In the event that	If
Due to the fact that	Due to, because, since
In order to	To
In order that	So, so that
For the reason that	Because
As of now	Now, currently
As a result of	Because

Filed under: Wordiness, Writing