2. Active Language
• Instead of writing:
• "Kate will always remember her first trip to
New York"
• We write:
• "Kate's first visit to Africa will always be
remembered by her.”
3. Active language
• "Kate's first visit to Africa will always be
remembered."
• The problem with this sentence is that it
is now indefinite: who is it that
remembers Kate's visit : Kate or the
whole of Africa?
4. Economy of language
• Omit needless words. 'That', 'which',
'the question as to whether', 'in order
that', 'the reason why is that', 'owing to
the fact that' are good examples of
needless words.
5. Economy of language
• Use definite, specific, concrete language.
• For example, don't say: "She displayed an
aggrieved air as a result of her traumatic
marital circumstances." Say: "She was furious
when she discovered her husband's affair."
6. Economy of language
• Avoid the use of qualifiers.
• Words such as 'very', 'little', 'really',
'quite', 'almost' etc are better replaced
with a more concise word. For instance,
'furious' is better than 'very angry'
7. Economy of language
• Avoid excessive use of adverbs and
adjectives.
• Well-chosen nouns and verbs should
do most of the work. For example, don't
write 'he ran quickly', write 'he raced'.
8. Economy of language
• Put statements in a positive form.
• 'She was not very often there at the
right time' can be condensed to 'She
was usually late'
9. Economy of language
• Avoid jargon, technical terms and
euphemisms.
• Prefer ‘heart attack’ to ‘cardiac arrest’
10. Economy of language
• Avoid cliches.
.
D no turn e ry f i re i nto a
o t ve
‘ra i ng i nf e ’ o p no
g rno r ro unce
e ry e p ‘l ucky’.
ve sca e
11. Economy of language
• Strive for clarity.
• Clarity should be your foremost goal. Remove
all unintentional ambiguities from your
sentences. When you find yourself fighting
your way through syntax - don't try to fix it.
Start again and break the sentence into
simple thoughts.
