Back in February, we published a podcast segment and article called How To Actually Improve Your Grammar, specifically your writing. Today we’ll be talking about tight writing. 

Late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated, “Get it right, and write it tight.” In simple terms, tight writing means being clear and concise, and using only the words necessary to say what you want to say. Tight writing is not just about using fewer words, but using the right words.

We’re all busy, and often you just get a line or two to catch – or lose – your readers’ attention. Many sites are even giving us estimates of how long it will take to read an article before we dive in. And we’ve all experienced the dreaded work email that takes forever to get to the point. So it’s important to get to the point quickly.

But tight writing is not easy. It takes practice and focus. Many experienced writers will tell you it is often harder to write a short piece than a longer one, including author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who said in 1857: “Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it shorter.”

Fear not, though! We have 10 tips to help make your writing tighter:

• 1. Avoid redundancy

This may not always be obvious. Think of the phrase “extremely enraged.” “Enraged” means very angry, right? So you can eliminate “extremely.” Or how about “over-exaggerate”? “Exaggerate” means to make something more than what it is, or to stretch the truth. So “over” isn’t necessary (and “over-exaggerate” isn’t even a real word, by the way). 

2. Watch your modifiers

In “dark and stormy night” fiction, lots of adjectives and even a few adverbs might make things more interesting, but especially in academic or business writing, consider whether those modifiers are necessary. For example, “It was a productive, better-than-average, and stellar quarter for our company.” You could just pick one of those adjectives and get the same point across. Or how about: “He was quite pleasantly surprised by the company’s improved performance.” Is “quite pleasantly” really necessary? Mmm, probably not.

3. Check for unnecessary articles and prepositions

Articles (“a,” “an,” “the”) and prepositions (“of,” “from,” “to,” “with,” and so on) can clutter your writing. Consider this sentence: “The total number of people who use Facebook each month increased exponentially in the three months leading up to April of 2023.” That’s a mouthful, right? You could eliminate many articles and prepositions and instead write: “Facebook users increased by about 26 million monthly from January to April 2023.” These changes may seem small, but they add up. You just went from 22 words to 13!

4. Conserve words in other ways, too

Sometimes we are just used to saying or writing things in a certain way, even if we are using unnecessary words. A great example is the phrase “in order to,” which can almost always be replaced with just “to”: “I plan my shopping trips in order to save money” could instead be written as “I plan my shopping trips to save money.” Similarly, “outside of” can almost always just be “outside”: “I don’t let my cats outside of the house,” can be written as “I don’t let my cats outside the house.” Other common wordy expressions are “close proximity” (just use “close”), “at this point in time” (“now” is perfectly fine), “in regard to” (“regarding” means the same thing), and “in spite of the fact that” can almost always be “although” or “despite.”

5. Eliminate the “fluff”

In her writing blog, Anne R. Allen describes “junk words” you could eliminate from your writing. She even has a list of the “Dirty Dozen Junk Words” to look out for. One common practice to avoid that you might remember from a previous episode is beginning sentences with “There is” or “There are.” Just state what “there is” or what “it” is instead of using vague pronouns. For example, instead of writing, “There are hundreds of parade spectators lining the street” you can write, “Hundreds of parade spectators line the street.” 

Another example is the word “that.” Allen suggests: “A good test is to read the sentence out loud. If the meaning is clear without “that,” cut it; if [not], leave it in.” Consider this: “I love Grammar Girl’s class that talks about writing email.” vs. “I love Grammar Girl’s class on writing email,” or even better, “I love Grammar Girl’s email writing class.” Allen also talks about “mushy modifiers,” which I alluded to before. But here’s a caveat: This doesn’t mean you can never use any of these phrases; just consider whether they’re really necessary and make your writing clearer and more accessible to your readers.

6. Use “strong” verbs

These verbs convey action. Although I won’t tell you to never use the passive voice (sometimes it is more appropriate), you can look at your writing and try to reword passive constructions. Consider your use of the verb “to be”: “is,” “was,” “were,” “has been,” “have been,” “is being,” “was being,” and so on). Much of the time, those can be replaced with an active verb, as in “The class was being taught by Susan” (passive), vs. “Susan taught the class” (active).

7. Avoid “five-dollar” words

Mark Twain warned us: “Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.” In other words, you don’t have to use fancy words to try to sound more educated. Use simple, clear words to get your point across, especially if you are writing for a general audience. As Steve Leonard points out in his “ClearanceJobs” article, “while some might interpret the use of five-dollar words as a sign of intelligence, the opposite is just as likely, especially when such words are habitually misused or used out of proper context.” Of course, if you need to use technical or academic terms for your subject matter or audience, that is a different story. Lots of authors have written on this topic, including Don Roff, who ironically claimed, “I don’t use big words to show off because it’s ostentatious.” And horror writer Stephen King declared, “Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.” Okay, maybe that’s a bit absolute, but you get the point.

8. BLUF

This term comes from the military and stands for “Bottom Line Up Front.” It applies to all kinds of writing, though. Simply put, BLUF means to state your main point up front – in your first sentence or at least in your first paragraph. Try to cover the 5 Ws in your BLUF – who, what, when, where, and why (so what?). That last one is important because you need to “hook” your audience. What is the point of your writing? Why should your audience take the time to read it? Let your readers know what they should expect, and then deliver it with supporting details. Everything you write should support your BLUF.

9 Edit, proofread, and revise

Part of being a good writer is knowing how to self-edit. Don’t expect a “one-and-done” draft. You should review it several times (at least three), considering how to make it tighter. In the editing phase, you are looking at structure (chronological; main points and supporting details; or pyramid, where the main point is at the top, and then the text drills down to the more specific details). You’re also looking for accuracy, tone, and appropriateness for your audience. Then you should proofread for structural issues, including grammar, spelling, and punctuation. When you’re done, make your final revisions.

10 Keep practicing!

The more you write, the better you’ll get. As we discussed in our “How To Improve Your Grammar” article, there are many online writing resources that can help. Finding a good “writing buddy” or mentor to give you feedback can also be valuable. Finally, keep track of the things that give you difficulty, research them, and then jot them down for next time.

Now go forth and conquer that “loose” writing! And remember Polonius’ declaration in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”: “Brevity is the soul of wit.”