Writing for Clarity

Eliminating Wordiness

• Eliminate redundancies• Avoid unnecessary repetitions• Cut empty or inflated phrases• Simplify structure• Reduce clauses to phrases, phrases to single

words

Redundancies & Unnecessary Repetitions

• Redundancies

– Cooperate together, close proximity, basic essentials, true fact

• Unnecessary Repetitions

– Our fifth patient, in room six, is a mentally ill patient.

– The best teachers help each student to become a better student both academically and emotionally.

Empty or Inflated Phrases

• Empty words:– walk in place, all things considered, in a manner

of speaking, as far as I’m concerned, in my opinion, for all intents and purposes, last but not least, for the most part, more or less

• Reduce from several words to a single word: – at all times, at the present time, because of the

fact that, due to the fact that, for the purpose of

Simplify Structure

• There is/There are/It is

– It is imperative that all police officers follow strict procedures when apprehending a suspect.

• Strengthen the verb

– The CEO claimed that because of volatile market conditions she could not make an estimate of the company’s future profits.

• Use the active voice

– The house was destroyed by the tornado.

Wordy ( 87 words) The highly pressured nature of critical- care nursing is due to the fact that the patients have life- threatening illnesses. Critical- care nurses must have possession of steady nerves to care for patients who are critically ill and very sick. The nurses must also have possession of interpersonal skills. They must also have medical skills. It is considered by most health- care professionals that these nurses are essential if there is to be improvement of patients who are now in critical care from that status to the status of intermediate care.

Concise ( 37 words) Critical- care nursing is highly pressured because the patients have life-threatening illnesses. Critical- care nurses must possess steady nerves and interpersonal and medical skills. Most health- care professionals consider these nurses essential if patients are to improve to intermediate care.

Appropriate Language• Jargon: specialized/technical language• Formal vs. Informal• Pretentious language & doublespeak– Intentionally vague: layoffs vs. downsizing

• Slang– Informal & casual language– www.slangsite.com, www.manythings.org

• Cliché– Overused phrases– No impact on reader– www.clichesite.com

Exact Words

• Appropriate connotations• Specific, concrete nouns• Misuse• Idioms– Follow no specific rules– Pg. 174

Parallel Ideas

• Balance ideas in a series– Same grammatical form

• Balance ideas presented as pairs– Connect with:• Coordinating conjunction• Correlative conjunctions• A word introducing a comparison (than, as)

• Repeat function words to clarify– Prepositions (by, to)– Subordinating Conjunctions (that, because)

Needed Words

• Complete compound structures– Word(s) must be common to each part of the sentence

• Adding that– Can be omitted if there is no danger of misreading

• Making comparisons logical & complete– Items must be alike

• Adding a, an, the– We bought a computer and printer– We bought a computer and an antivirus program

Mixed Constructions

• Contain sentence parts that do not fit together, either logically or grammatically

• Repair by:– Fixing the grammatical structure (pg. 47 & 48) – Making logical connections• Subject and predicate must make sense together

• Avoid is when, is where, reason is

Misplaced Modifiers

• Limiting Modifiers– Should appear in front of the word that they modify

• Phrases and Clauses– Meaning must be clear

• Move awkward modifiers– Subject >Verb>Object– Avoid long phrases in between

• Avoid awkward split infinitives– To and a verb– No long words/phrases between parts

Dangling Modifiers

• Suggest but do not name an actor • Revise by:– Naming the actor in the subject– Naming the actor in the modifier