Liberate Your Business Writing – Simplify

Clutter is the enemy of good business writing. The way to defeat it is to watch for superfluous words and get rid of them. Show no mercy. Watch out for bonsai inflated words, buzzwords, bad word clusters, and anything that doesn’t contribute to the writing. Your goal is clear communication.

Early in his classic book for nonfiction writers, On Writing Well, William Zinsser tells us that writing isn’t something reserved for English teachers or those with a gift for words. Anyone who can think clearly about a subject can write clearly about it.

The essence of good writing is rewriting. It’s not unusual to rewrite an article or a business report 3, 4, or 5 times. Did you choose the right words? Are any unnecessary words hiding in there?

If you wrote a long word when a short word would say the same thing, use the short one.

Implement (do)
Numerous (many)
Facilitate (ease)

Are you using word clusters?

At this point in time (now)
With the possible exception of (except)
Until such time as (until)

Good business writers don’t use inflated words to sound important. They avoid jargon and buzzwords. The more superfluous words you cut, the better the writing. Don’t forget to watch for unnecessary modifiers, e.g., a personal friend (a friend).

Remember Strunk and White’s rule in The Elements of Style: “Omit needless words”.