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5 - Concision

Maximizing Efficiency, Minimizing Words

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2024

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Summary

Concision is about more than writing like Hemingway or following Strunk & White’s edict to eliminate unnecessary words. Instead, concision relies on writers recognizing the myriad redundancies in English, a reflection of its evolution from the collision of Latin, French, and Old English in the decades following the Norman Conquest. Moreover, redundancies also litter English in the form of redundant modifiers, throat-clearing, and metadiscourse. By recognizing these words and phrases, writers can quickly pare sentences to their essentials, without fretting over the havoc deletions can wreak on the meaning of their sentences.

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Writing for the Reader's Brain
A Science-Based Guide
, pp. 138 - 165
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Concision
  • Yellowlees Douglas
  • Book: Writing for the Reader's Brain
  • Online publication: 12 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009221818.005
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  • Concision
  • Yellowlees Douglas
  • Book: Writing for the Reader's Brain
  • Online publication: 12 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009221818.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Concision
  • Yellowlees Douglas
  • Book: Writing for the Reader's Brain
  • Online publication: 12 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009221818.005
Available formats
×