Concision
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Concision (alternatively brevity, laconicism, terseness, or conciseness) is the art and practice of minimizing words used to convey an idea. It aims to make communication more effective by eliminating redundancy without omitting important information. Concision has been described as one of the elementary principles of writing.[1]
Description
Concision may involve removing redundant or unnecessary phrases or replacing them with shorter ones. It is described in The Elements of Style by Strunk and White as follows:[1]
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Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
— Elementary Principles of Composition, The Elements of Style
Concision has also been described as "eliminat[ing] words that take up space without saying much."[2] Simple examples include replacing "due to the fact that [sic]" with "because" or "at this point in time" with "now" or "currently."[3]
An example sentence, with explanation:[2]
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"It is a fact that most arguments must try to convince readers, that is the audience, that the arguments are true." Notice the beginning of the sentence: "it is a fact that" doesn't say much; if something is a fact, just present it. So begin the sentence with "most arguments..." and turn to the next bit of overlap. Look at "readers, that is the audience"; the redundancy can be reduced to "readers" or "audience." Now we have "Most arguments must try to convince readers that the arguments are true." Let's get rid of one of the "arguments" to produce "Most arguments must demonstrate (their) truth to readers," or a similarly straightforward expression.
Example paragraph
The following example is taken from:[3]
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The author of the poem illustrated various differences between the characters. The poem, which was a romantic poem, showed that each individual character was sort of devious in the way in which he or she did things and behaved. The two characters in the poem, who were named Jim and Dwight, were never definitely and completely honest with each other, which led to the final outcome of them being unhappy. This outcome, which was undesirable, is designed in a way to show the readers just exactly how the author feels about lying and deceit.
The source suggests this replacement:
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The romantic poem showed that its characters were devious. Jim and Dwight, the poem’s two characters, were never honest with each other and ended up unhappy. This undesirable outcome shows the readers how the author feels about lying.
In the second quote, the same information is communicated in less than half the length. However, it could be more concisely rewritten and communicate the same information:
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The romantic poem’s characters, Jim and Dwight, were dishonest with each other and ended up unhappy, showing the author's feelings about lying.
External links
- Further examples of concision in writing (also contains more links in the sections "Exercises" and "Additional resources")
- Shearson Editorial Services on concision
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Program for Writing and Rhetoric, University of Colorado at Boulder. "Writing Tip #27: Revising for Concision and Clarity." Accessed June 19, 2012. Link.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 UNT Writing Lab. "Concision, Clarity, and Cohesion." Accessed June 19, 2012. Link.
