Writing skills success in 20 minutes a day, 4th edition. I am invulnerable, impregnable, insuperable, indefatigable, insurmountable. Regardless of the reason for padded writing, we can achieve concise writing if we incorporate several strategies during the writing process and if were aware of the individual patterns of wordiness typical of our own writing. Petersons master toefl writing skills, used as a selftutor, will help you improve your writing skills. In this editing and proofreading worksheet, learners read a sentence that is too wordy. The purdue university online writing lab serves writers from around the world and the purdue university writing lab helps writers on purdues campus. Creative commons supports free culture from music to education.
Getting rid of wordiness is one of the toughest parts of writing and proofreading, especially when youre creating something academic. Wordiness, the passive voice, redundancy, precise language, abstract vs. Wordy sentences wordy sentences contain many unnecessary words. Pdf files of internet sources or paper copies of noninternet sources for. Wordiness is the use of more words than necessary to convey meaning. A small detail you may saynot worth bothering about. Avoid overusing it is, there is, and there are weak expletives at the beginning of sentences. Techniques for reducing wordiness try not to use i and we in a formal paper. Wordiness definition of wordiness by the free dictionary. Regardless of the reason for padded writing, we can achieve concise writing if we incorporate several strategies during the writing process and if were aware of the individual patterns of wordiness typical. A major problem with much writing is wordinessusing several words when one will do. In fact, being too wordy can cause many problems in your writing.
For more information on the source of this book, or why it is available for free, please see the projects home page. Conciseness 3 up to them when we can free up a few minutes. Avoid passive voice, needless repetition, and wordy phrases and clauses. Wordiness most often occurs when a writer wants to sound more professional, academic, or complex. This lesson gives tips on how to identify and reduce wordiness. Techniques for reducing wordinessnew macalester college. Limit or avoid phrases describing your attitudes and writing strategies.
Editing exercise worksheet is suitable for 6th 7th grade. This is controlling wordiness and writing concisely, section 17. Use an online interactive webpage to fine tune the writing skills of your middle. Wordiness read over your compositions, and, when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out. Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldnt be there. Not only can wordiness overlabor readers, it can also cause clarity problems and lead to bad writing. This document should only be used as a reference and should not replace assignment guidelines. Slick write is a powerful, free application that makes it easy to check your writing for grammar errors, potential stylistic mistakes, and other features of interest. The beautiful, majestic, breathtaking city of rome was. He let each satisfying word roll smoothly off his tongue. Wordiness, says robert hartwell fiske, is arguably the biggest obstacle to clear writing and speaking 101 wordy phrases, 2005. Wordy sentences use too many useless words that clutter writing.
A common way to fall into wordiness is to present a single complex idea, step. The paper is obviously yours, so you dont need to use phrases such as i think, i believe, or it seems to me. I know how to make and sell software online, and i can share my tips with you. How to avoid wordiness in writing tips and tricks with. When you are finished with each sentence or, if you wish, wait until youve done them all, click on.
Your first free writing 8 research 11 your second free writing 16 your thesis statement 18 next steps 20 3 methods of development. Revise these sentences to state their meaning in fewer words. Use these resources to study what you know about identifying and reducing wordiness. The committee members decided to have an office party for the employees. Utah valley university uvu does not discriminate on the basis of race, color. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences. A lesswordy way to describe wordiness is using too many words. How simple they look, set down here in whites last chapter. These sentences feel watered downlike you have to do a lot of work to gain a little information. Whether youre a blogger, novelist, seo professional, or student writing an essay for school, slick write can help take your writing to the next level. Let students have some writing fun as they learn how to be concise in their writing.
Using excessive prepositions consecutively within a sentence is. Wordiness occurs when a writer uses words or phrases that seem to modify a noun but do not actually add to the meaning of the sentence. Why eliminating wordiness is so important for your essay. Handout with principles of pruning prose and samples of wordy prose handout 1. Rewrite the following sentences in the textareas provided. Youll answer quiz questions on things like the methods of reducing wordiness. Why use 50 words when 15 gets the same point across. To write clear and concise sentences, avoid nonessential phrases and. Eliminating wordiness exercise 1 purdue writing lab. As strunk and white tell us in the elements of style 4th ed. Writing concise sentences vigorous writing is concise. What this handout is about this handout helps you identify wordiness in your sentences, paragraphs, and essays and offers strategies for writing concisely.
Now that you know why its important to eliminate wordiness, and now that you know how to do so, its time to write some words of your ownor as the case may be, delete some of those unnecessary. Ppt wordiness powerpoint presentation free to download. The overuse of words is a very problematic issue in any form of writing. Top 10 strategies to raise your score gives you testtaking strategies. Exercises for eliminating wordiness brought to you by the purdue university online writing lab at for strategies to improve conciseness in your writing, see methods of eliminating wordiness at directions. Examples and observations no one can resist me, he had to admit. Segue into discussing writing by giving students the handout called. The beautiful, majestic, breathtaking city of rome was visited by many tourists from america during the hot summer.
The game is won or lost on hundreds of small details. Wordiness is the opposite of conciseness, which describes writing that is direct and uses carefully chosen words. Loose is an adjective meaning free, unrestrained, not tight. This 4page printable resource includes an introductory page with explanations and examples of problems with wordiness. In this essay, we look at how to avoid wordiness and redundancy by writing tighter sentences. Wordiness means stating ideas, concepts, andor thoughts in an excessively lengthy, redundant, and verbose manner.
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