Have you ever come across a book or an article that reads like a breeze? You only started reading the piece of writing and now you are already on the 10th or 12th page thinking to yourself how great of a writer the author is. The secret behind the kind of writing that takes you away into another realm is simplicity. 

If you are reading something that contains complicated words and lengthy sentences, you might find yourself focusing on the sentences and words instead of understanding the meaning behind them. No, that one can’t write in a grandiose manner and still be interesting to read. One has to maintain the balance between a decorated style of writing and being able to send the message in a simplified manner. Otherwise, the piece of writing is considered not much but an attempt to exercise one’s ego. 

If you are an aspiring writer, one of the best things you can do is make your sentences short and crisp, unless you can maintain the balance between decorative style and comprehensibility. Let’s take a look at some of the writing tips you can follow:

Combine sentences

You can combine two sentences that end and begin with the same word or phrase to make your writing more concise. 

“A simple way to become good at fighting games is to master the basics. Mastering the basics allows you to understand the fundamental mechanics of the game.”

You can remove “mastering the basics” in the second sentence with a comma. 

“A simple way to become good at fighting games is to master the basics, which allows you to understand the fundamentals of the game.

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Condense sentences

If two consecutive verb phrases are used in a sentence, you can convert one into a subordinate clause. 

“Subzero is everyone’s favourite character from Mortal Kombat and is often used to subdue heavy hitters with his iceball technique.”

Subzero, everyone’s favourite character from Mortal Kombat, is often used to subdue heavy hooters with his iceball technique.”

Replace terms with definitions

One of the best ways to write concisely is to avoid defining a term that people are already familiar with.

“She is prone to making embarrassing social blunders” can be said as “She is prone to making a faux pas.”

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Remove expletive words

Constructions such as ‘it is, ‘there is’, and ‘there are’ should be avoided as it obscures the main subject of the sentence.

“There is going to be a catastrophic failure in the system if the pandemic is not taken care of early.”

“A catastrophic failure is likely to happen in the system if the pandemic is not taken care of early.”

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Avoid repetition

Repetition makes the sentences boring and tedious to read and should be avoided at all cost.

“Can you please repeat that again?” can be better said as “Can you repeat that?”, since repeat itself means mentioning something again.

Use modifiers

If you have to modify a noun to make it more explanatory, use a preceding adjective or a phrasal adjective in the place of an extended-phrase. 

“He made a cocktail that was cold and fresh” can be said as “He made a cold and fresh cocktail.”

Removing single words

There are sentences that can be made a lot better by removing a single word from them.

“Instead of going through all of the syllabus, only important points should be revised.”

You can remove the word “of” and still relay the same information from the sentence.

“Instead of going through all the syllabus, only important points should be revised.”

Image by Lorenzo Cafaro from Pixabay

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