Brevity Definition – Summary Brevity in writing refers to a writer’s effort to say enough to convey an intended message using as few words as possible. Texts that illustrate brevity may be described as professional, concise, straight to the point, succinct, business-like, or direct. Brevity isn’t just about succinctness. Your reader needs you to provide ...
Unfortunately, many writers use sentences that are too wordy. This is not to suggest that lengthy sentences can never be used (because they certainly can), but most of the time writers make the mistake of using more words than necessary to get their message across. Take this sentence, for example:
In our daily speech and in rough drafts, we tend to rely heavily on the various forms of the verb to be. The verb to be is unlike any other verb because it is inert–that is, it doesn’t show any action. For example, in the sentence “The researcher is a professor at Duke” the verb is merely connects ...
When used in moderation, prepositions are invaluable: they work as connecting words, linking the object of the preposition to a word that appears earlier in the sentence. Like linking verbs, however, prepositions do not convey action, nor do they subordinate one thought to another. Instead, they merely link chunks of meaning that readers must gather together in order to understand the sentence.
You can imbue your language with a sense of vigor by eliminating unnecessary nouns and choosing powerful verbs. When editing, consider changing Latinated nouns--that is, nouns that end with -ance, -ing, -ion, -tion, or -ment into verbs.
