Writing effectively is something most of us aim to do, but it's a skill that takes a long time to polish. You can, however, quickly improve your writing by knowing the following strategies:
1. Stop Being Wordy
The first thing you should do to improve your writing is to be more concise. For some reason, it is the natural tendency of people to use too many words when they write, but what separates average writers from good writers is the ability to adhere to the famous advice: omit needless words.
Here are three quick ways to stop being so wordy:
Eliminate wordy expressions
Certain stock phrases can be replaced by a single word. For example, the phrase due to the fact that can be replaced by the word because.
Wordy Example: I was late for work due to the fact that traffic was terrible.
Revision: I was late for work because traffic was terrible.
Another common one is the phrase on a daily basis, which can be replaced by the single word daily.
Wordy Example: I exercise on a daily basis.
Revision: I exercise daily.
Looking for wordy phrases to revise is an essential habit for any writer. I've listed a few more in the following post: Wordy Expressions to Avoid.
Trim prepositional phrases
You can quickly improve your writing by trimming unnecessary prepositional phrases. Here's an example of what I'm talking about (the prepositional phrases are underlined in alternating colors):
Original: The proposal for hiring is under review by the chair of the department.
Revised: The department chair is reviewing the hiring proposal.
Thirteen words down to eight.
For more help with this concept, see the following post: Trimming Prepositional Phrases.
Avoid Redundancy
Certain expressions are redundant because it's like they are saying the same thing twice. For example, take the phrase join together. If two things are joined, it is implied that they are together. Here are a couple more examples:
At the present time
The present implies time; you can just say “At present” or “presently”.
End result
A result happens at the end. End should be omitted
There are many such expressions. Here are a few more if you need additional help identifying them: Redundant Expressions.
2. Avoid Ambiguity
Ambiguity in writing is a big problem even for good writers. It's actually such a wide problem that I devoted an entire module to the topic of ambiguity in my online writing course, Bad Grammar.
It's a topic that requires ongoing study, but there are two tips you can use to immediately improve your writing in this area: avoiding problems with personal pronouns and avoiding fuzzy comparisons.
Sneaky errors with personal pronouns
Ambiguous: Bob told his son to look for his wallet.
The problem here is that we don't know whom the wallet belongs to. Is the wallet Bob's or his son's? We need to revise for clarity.
Revision 1: Bob told his son, “Look for your wallet before we leave for the mall."
Revision 2: Bob couldn’t find his wallet, so he asked his son to look for it before they left for the mall.
Avoid Fuzzy Comparisons
We compare things so often that ambiguity can easily slip into our statements. Here's just one example:
Fuzzy comparison: My company is paying me less than Gabriel.
Do you see the ambiguity here? Is it saying that the company pays me less than what they pay Gabriel? Or is it saying that the company is paying me less than what Gabriel pays me? A fine distinction but a great difference in meaning.
It needs clarity.
Revision 1: My company is paying me less than they do Gabriel.
Revision 2: My company is paying me less than what Gabriel is.
3. Use Parallel Structure
Using parallel structure is a simple but powerful way to add balance and elegance to your writing. It's also not a difficult concept to master.
Parallel structure simply means that similar ideas should appear in similar grammatical form. Here's a basic example:
Nonparallel structure: Yara loves running, to swim, and biking.
Parallel structure: Yara loves, running, biking, and swimming.
The second sentence is easier to read than the second. The second sentence uses parallelism—all three verbs are gerunds, whereas in the first sentence two are gerunds and one is an infinitive. The first sentence is technically correct, but the mixed grammatical forms create a discord that distracts the reader. Using parallelism improves the style and readability. Here's one more example:
Nonparallel structure: The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, sprinting down the alley.
Parallel structure: The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and sprinted down the alley.
4. Stop Trying to Sound Smart
Eliminating what I call fancy language is another quick way to dramatically improve your writing. For this section, I'll narrow my advice to two things: First, learn how to revise zombie nouns.
Zombie nouns is the phrase used by Helen Sword to describe what are called nominalizations. Nominalization occurs when a word that is not a noun (usually a verb or adjective) is made to function as a noun, usually by changing the form of the word.
Examples of Nominalization
The verb decide becomes the noun decision.
Assert becomes assertion.
The adjective happy becomes the noun happiness.
Brilliant becomes brilliance.
Excessive nominalizations create a noun-heavy style, robbing sentences of movement and energy. Here's an example:
Poor: Late submission of the paperwork can lead to a denial of your application.
Submission and denial are the zombie nouns here. We do not know who the actors are. Who will be doing the denying? Who might be submitting the late paperwork? (Is it the person being addressed, or is it a third party?)
Better: If you submit your paperwork late, we may deny your application.
Here, the main verb of the independent clause is deny, and the verb in the subordinate clause is submit. The verbs of the sentence are aligned with its most important actions. We see more clearly what is happening, or in this case, what might happen. We also see clearly who the actors are. They come out of hiding, revealing important distinctions.
Here's another possible revision of the original sentence:
Revision 2: If your attorney submits the paperwork late, we may deny your application.
Here, the attorney is responsible for submitting the paperwork.
Look for opportunities in your writing to use active verbs, rather than letting those verbs be turned into heavy nouns.
Bad Grammar - Online Course
5. Stop Confusing Your Words
There are thousands of confusing words in English. There is no way to memorize them all, but you can memorize some common ones. Check out the short video below from my writing course, Bad Grammar. It covers just a few commonly confused words you should be aware of.
Click Image to View Free Video
As I stated in the video, you just have to look it up whenever you aren't sure about a confusing set of words. You can also check The Wrong Word Dictionary. This book is a great resource for increasing your vocabulary and helping you recognize easily confused words.
Conclusion
By focusing on the 5 strategies in this article, you can quickly make dramatic improvement in your writing. Writing development takes time and patience, but with these strategies, you're off to a fantastic start.
To take your writing to the next level, check out the writing course,