Whether you are writing a blog post, news release or tweet, clear and concise writing will help you connect with your target audience and gain respect amongst your colleagues.
Try following my editing tips below to improve your writing today.
1. Move a sentence’s main verb closer to the beginning
My favourite stylistic writing technique! Whenever you encounter an awkward sentence, find the sentence’s main verb and try moving it closer to the beginning of the sentence. This trick often fixes poorly structured sentences, leading to more direct and clearer communications.
In the sentence below, “is” is the main verb. Look what happens when I move “is” closer to the beginning of the sentence:
The woman with the business plan is Joan.
Joan is the woman with the business plan.
2. Reduce your use of semi-colons
I’m not a big fan of semi-colons. The semi-colon is the grammar world’s jack-of-all-trades, yet it’s not particularly great at anything. Instead of using a semi-colon, consider using periods to separate independent clauses and commas to separate dependent clauses.
John bought a Christmas tree this morning; it will need to be decorated soon.
John bought a Christmas tree this morning. He will need to decorate it soon.
Another instance where people use semi-colons is to separate items in a long, complex list within a paragraph. Instead, you should consider turning such a paragraph into a bulleted or numbered list.
3. Break up long sentences
Shorter, concise sentences are better than long-winded sentences. Start by identifying clauses and phrases in super-long sentences to see if they can become sentences on their own.
4. Use a writing style guide
There are many editorial style guides to follow, from the Canadian Press Stylebook to the Chicago Manual of Style to the AMA Manual of Style.
Whatever your style, be sure you’re consistent throughout your communications. For example, will you use “healthcare” or “health care”? Will you spell out your numbers? What about capitalization in headers? Etc., etc., etc.
5. Remove junk words
“That” is often an extra, clunky word. In many instances, “that” can easily be removed without screwing up the sentence.
John really thinks that writing is important.
John really thinks writing is important.
6. Avoid long paragraphs
This is especially true for web communications. Many people have short attention spans and don’t want to read epic paragraphs. Stick with 1-4 concise sentences per paragraph.
7. Bulleted and numbered lists are your friends
Quality is better than quantity. Cut all non-important words and phrases for higher quality writing.
8. Use lots of browser-friendly elements
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