Remove Unnecessary Words

Lesson from "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk Jr.

Good writing = Precision + Brevity.

In other words, good writing is concise and carries maximum impact.

Consider this quote from the classic writing book, The Elements of Style:

A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

This doesn’t mean that every sentence needs to be short or avoid all detail.

But every word should be essential.

If a word can be removed from your sentence, remove it.

Let’s look at some examples:

• “Her story is a strange one” —> “Her story is strange.”

• “This is a subject that” —> “This subject”

• “I was unaware of the fact that” —> “I was unaware that”

By removing words from the sentences above, the writing becomes clearer.

Concise writing is more powerful.

Remove unnecessary words from your sentences to improve your writing.

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This was a lesson from ‘The Elements of Style’ by William Strunk Jr.

If you want to pick up your own copy of the book, click here.

Or explore the C.S.M. Fiction archive.

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