CONCISE WRITING

1) Eliminate long lead-ins

- Delete or rewrite opening information that ends in that or because
Wordy: I am writing to inform you that parking lot C will be closed for maintenance Monday,
September 30.
Concise: Parking lot C will be closed for maintenance Monday, September 30.
a. In the event that you are unable to attend, please notify us at once.
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b. In view of the fact that the resume contained several typing errors, we have discarded it.
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c. Due to the fact that we have not received payment for three months, we must cancel your
service.
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d. In spite of the fact that production costs are rising, we have tried to maintain our current
pricing schedule.
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2) Use verbs instead of nouns with ment or tion endings

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CONCISE WRITING
Wordy: Oppo undertook a revision of its full-year earnings forecast.
Concise: Oppo revised its full-year earnings forecast.
a. A senior engineer will make an assessment of the safety requirements and, if necessary, make
changes to them.
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b. We gave consideration to how the company would be affected before we made the decision
to undergo conversion to the new computer system.
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c. Many analysts have a preference for a layered approach to security.
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3) Dont repeat yourself
absolutely essential

past experience

enter into

each and every

a) This paragraph is exactly identical to that one.

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b) Our modern office equipment is up to date in every feature.
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c) The police car circled around the building several times.
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CONCISE WRITING
d) Her sister is a woman who works as an investment adviser at Forest Financial.
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5) Keep it simple and direct
at a later date later
with the exception of except
in the event that if
a) More than 40 percent of people are of the opinion that government spending should be
reduced.
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b) Please send me more information pertaining to your new line of car tires.
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c) Due to the fact that two of the three highway lanes were closed for repairs, I was nearly 20
minutes late for my appointment.
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6) Use adjectives and adverbs instead of prepositional phrases
- Prepositions are words like in, to, at, of, after, with, between
- Prepositions join with other words to form prepositional phrases that act like adjectives or
adverbs
Wordy: An error in computation was discovered in the report from last spring.
Concise: A computational error was discovered in last springs report
a) It was a clerk from accounting who located the spreadsheets that had been missing.
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b) The employee with ambition earned a promotion.
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CONCISE WRITING
7) Introduce the subject early
- Dont begin sentences with there is/are and it is/was
Wordy: There are three bids that the board is considering
Concise: The board is considering three bids.
a) There are four rules that should be followed.
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b) It is the politicians who create the laws.
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8) Dont overuse who, which, that

Wordy: We offer prices that are competitive.
Concise: We offer competitive prices.
a) The report, which was released recently, found many areas for improvement.
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b) We will purchase the system that is most efficient and accurate.

CONCISE WRITING
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c) All applicants who are interested in the job must take a series of tests.
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