Sentences

1. Cut out passive voice wherever possible and substitute active voice.

2. Cut out linking verbs wherever possible and substitute transitive verbs.

3. Cut out expletive sentence openers wherever possible.

4. Cut out throat-clearing sentence openers wherever possible.

5. Cut out parentheses, brackets, slashes, abbreviations, and symbols wherever possible.

6. Cut out rhetorical questions.

7. Keep most of your sentences under twenty words long.

Phrases

1. Cut out noun phrases wherever possible and substitute active verbs.

2. Cut out prepositional phrases wherever possible and substitute active verbs.

3. Cut out circumlocutions and euphemisms; use direct statement. Use electric fan rather than high-velocity multipurpose air circulator, sewage plant rather than wastewater conveyance facility, personnel rather than human resources

4. Cut out clich�s and trite expressions.

Words

1. Cut out vague, woolly, abstract nouns wherever possible and substitute more specific and concrete words. Get rid of such jargon nouns as case, factor, instance, character, situation, degree, aspect, condition and phase.
Ex: There are several factors that influenced my decision to attend NHC.

I decided to attend NHC for several reasons.

Ex: The first instance of this virus occurred on January 12.

This virus first occurred on January 12.

Ex: In the first case I get a message telling me I am out of disk space.

First I get a message telling me I am out of disk space.

2. Cut out weasel words; be direct. Get rid of such words and phrases as seems, appears to be, I think that, maybe, perhaps and possibly.

Ex: I think that most students would enjoy working in the computer lab.

Most students would enjoy working in the computer lab because . . .

Ex: There seems to be divided opinion among students about whether the number of required courses should be increased.

Students are divided about whether the number of required courses should be increased.

3. Cut out nouns ending in -ize; use appropriate nouns or verbs instead. Get rid of such words as utilize, prioritize, authorize, compartmentalize, legalize, legitimize, particularize, schematize, and transistorize.

Ex: Technology grants are designed to help faculty utilize new instructional technologies.

Technology grants are designed to help faculty use . . .

Ex: Be sure to prioritize your group's problems with the new software.

Be sure to rank your group's problems . . .

4. Cut out nouns ending in -ation whever possible and substitute verbs; get rid of nouns made out of verbs made out of nouns: modification, communication, recommendation, representation, transformation; bureaucratization, ghettoization, robotization, routinization, suburbanization.

Ex: The modification of the existing software configuration created a number of problems for local users.

When we modified the existing software, local users experienced a number of problems.

Ex: Our recommendations to the board numbered thirteen specific proposals.

We recommended thirteen specific proposals to the board.

Ex: The robotization and computerization of manual labor has created a dearth of unskilled entry-level jobs in American industry.

Few unskilled entry-level jobs exist in America because most routine industrial processes have been taken over by industrial robots or computers.

5. Cut out big words and substitute small words that mean the same thing. Use total instead of aggregate, go instead of proceed, show instead of demonstrate, pay instead of remuneration. In other words, eschew obfuscation.

6. Cut out foreign words and phrases wherever possible and substitute their English equivalents.

7. Cut out technical jargon whenever possible and substitute commonly used words; if technical terms are unavoidable, define them.

Ex: In an add for Comp USA a character jokingly says: "I tell my children they must download their peas if they expect to interface with dessert."

8. Cut out -ly from words wherever possible: firstly, secondly, thusly.