Avoiding unnecessary words can help you write concisely. Some words can pad or clutter sentences without adding to their meaning.
AVOIDING UNNECESSARY WORDS
voiding unnecessary words can help you write concisely. Some words can pad or clutter sentences without adding to their meaning. Removing them makes messages clearer and more direct. Take the sentence:
"In my opinion, a bonus element is something that motivates and encourages employees to meet scheduled deadlines."
Once you've deleted all the unnecessary words, the message becomes clear:
"A bonus motivates employees to meet deadlines."
A memo reads:
"In my opinion, a bonus element is something that motivates and encourages employees to meet scheduled deadlines."
The unnecessary words removed from this piece of writing are "In my opinion," "element," "is something," "encourages," and "scheduled." When these words are removed, the revised message reads:
"A bonus motivates employees to meet deadlines."
So how do you identify which words can be cut out of the sentences you write? You can delete these types of words because they don't add any meaning:
The trick to avoiding unnecessary words is to identify what it is you wish to communicate to your readers. This will enable you to cut out any words that don't assist in conveying your message.
An example of a sentence that includes unnecessary words is:
"We need to add additional financial funding."
Once the unnecessary words are identified and removed, the message becomes more direct and concise.
Possible revisions of the sentence are:
"We need additional funding,"
or
"We need to add funding."
It's also important to eliminate any unnecessary repetition in your text. Including more than one word or phrase that means the same thing just leads to cluttered writing.
The repetitive words in the sentence:
"I need to repeat again to the point that we must ensure we cooperate together, so that mistakes are few in number."
Are return again, cooperate together, and few in number. This should be written as:
"I need to mention the point again that we must cooperate to ensure fewer mistakes."
This example of a message alerts managers to a budget overrun. Consider the steps you could take to make the text more concise.
The text reads:
"Please be advised that it has come to my attention that we're as of this date running over the forecasted budget for the current month of August. In the event that this alarming trend continues and the patterns don't change, we'll urgently need to request further, additional funding. We also need to analyze in depth what is causing this overrun."
Long prepositional phrases: You need to identify unnecessary prepositional phrases. In this case, "as of this date" can be deleted. It doesn't add to the message that must be conveyed.
REPETITION
Next you check the text for repetition. Here, "the current month" and "August" restate the same thing. And you can take out "the patterns don't change" because it means the same thing as "the trend continues." The words "further" and "additional" also mean the same thing.
UNNECESSARY SENTENCE STARTERS
You can delete the unnecessary sentence starter "Please be advised." It doesn't add anything to the message. Likewise, you can remove the phrase "it has come to my attention."
UNNECESSARY PHRASES
You should check for phrases that you can replace with single words. For example, you can replace "analyze in depth" with "analyze."
LONG-WINDED CONJUNCTIONS
Similarly, you search for long-winded conjunctions. In this case, you can replace the subordinating conjunction "in the event that" with "if."
UNNECESSARY MODIFIERS
Finally, you investigate the use of adjectives and adverbs. Here you can delete "alarming" and "urgently." Managers won't need these descriptions to realize the significance of the message.
Once unnecessary words have been removed, the message is short, to the point, and easy to follow.
The revised text reads:
"We're running over the forecasted budget for August. If this trend continues, we'll need to request additional funding. We also need to analyze what is causing this overrun."
QUESTION
Consider the following message:
"Let me start by thanking everyone for being so cooperative in nature. We have reached our goal in relation to reducing down the software errors. Due to the fact that we have achieved this aim, you will receive a small bonus in your next paycheck."
Which revisions get rid of the unnecessary words?
The sentence starter "let me start by" is unnecessary and can be removed. This will reduce the length of the sentence without affecting its meaning. So the sentence would start with "Thanks to everyone..." In addition, the conjunction linking the second and third sentences - "due to the fact that" – can be replaced with the more concise "Because."
"Everyone" is not an unnecessary word here. It is fine as is.
The phrase "in nature" does not add to the meaning here.
"Allow me to begin by thanking" is another unnecessary sentence starter. You could start this sentence more concisely with "Thanks to everyone..."
In this case, "in relation to" is a wordy prepositional phrase. Take it out and replace with "of."
"Reducing down" is a repetitious phrase.
I have been teaching and training agents, team leaders, supervisors, managers and admins of call centers and other businesses in BPO related fields. This series, comes as a result of that experience. I have more than 4,000 modules that I plan on sharing here. This is # 003-09
