The document provides 10 tips for improving writing. Some of the key tips include using dense words that pack meaning, strong verbs instead of "to be", strong nouns that are specific and precise, showing rather than telling to let readers experience a situation, providing facts for readers to draw their own conclusions, being specific with brief details, and learning from great writers. The overall message is to write concisely and precisely using vivid language.

1. Ten Ways to Improve
Your Writing

2. 10. Use Dense Words
A dense word crowds a lot of meaning into a small
space.

3. 10. Use Dense Words
O People I didn’t know are…
O Strangers
O Things I was thinking and feeling
O Thoughts and feelings
O Something impossible to imagine is…
O Inconceivable
O Once a year is…
O Annual

4. 9. Use Strong Verbs
Get rid of the verb “to be” and make your
other verbs (such as LOOK and WALK)
specific. Don’t rely on adverbs to
describe your verbs.

5. 9. Use Strong Verbs
O A grandfather clock was in one corner,
and three books were on top of it.
O A grandfather clock towered in one corner,
and three books lay on top of it.
O Did you look?
O Or did you stare, gaze, peek, or gawk?
O Did you throw?
O Or did you toss, flip, or hurl?

6. 8. Use Strong Nouns
Strong nouns are specific, precise, and densely
packed with information.

7. 8. Use Strong Nouns
O Was it a black dog?
O Or a Doberman?
O Was it a large house?
O Or a mansion?
O A man entered the room.
O A man?
O Or was he a priest?
O A senator?
O A Lithuanian?
O Or an ex-senator Lithuanian priest?

8. 7. Show, Don’t Tell
Don’t tell your readers what they need to feel, see, or
think. Instead, let them experience the situation for
themselves.

9. 7. Show, Don’t Tell
O My new boyfriend,
Arnold, is a terrific
athlete. He’s also
incredibly smart,
very sentimental,
and sort of strange.
O My new boyfriend,
Arnold, ran five miles
to my cabin in the
middle of that
snowstorm last week.
When he got here, he
stood out in the snow
and shouted that he
loves me in five
different languages.

10. 6. Provide Facts
Instead of writing your own conclusions, provide facts
and let the readers come to their own conclusions.

11. 6. Provide Facts
O A lot of banks hand
out gifts when you
open an account.
Since you know that
they want your
account, you may
assume there is no
catch. But sometimes
you lose money by
taking the gift.
O In New York City, one
major bank recently
advertised a free TV
to people who would
deposit $3,000 into a
3-year account that
would pay 7% interest
while other banks
were paying 12% on
2-year $3,000
accounts. How free
was that TV?

12. 5. Delete fluff!
So avoid using the word ‘very’ because
it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is
exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use
morose. Language was invented for one
reason, boys - to woo women - and, in
that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also
won’t do in your essays.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

13. 5. Delete fluff!
O Actually
O Really
O Very
O Kind of
O Sort of
O In my opinion
O Generally
O Basically

14. 4. Be specific
Use specific but brief details.

15. 4. Be specific
O Various ethnic groups have settled in New
York.
O Greeks, Italians, and Puerto Ricans have
settled in New York.
O Some time ago, a public official in
Montana committed a serious crime.
O Three years ago, a Montana senator killed
a man.

16. 3. Use Positive
Statements…
…most of the time

17. 3.Use Positive Statements
O There was no noise in the church.
O The church was silent.
O George’s plan to breed giant rabbits did
not succeed.
O George’s plan to breed giant rabbits
failed.
O George and Mary were not sober when
they got home.
O They were drunk!

18. 2. Use Negative
Statements…
…when emphasizing the negative.

19. 2. Use Negative Statements…
O It’s ten o’clock on a dark and stormy night.
Your wife was supposed to come home at
six. You are worried, so you call her
brother and say…
O “Jennifer is out.”
O NO!!!
O You say, “Jennifer is not home yet.”

20. 1. Learn from the Best
What do writers, editors, and philosophers say?

21. It is my ambition to say in ten
sentences what others say in a
whole book.
Friedrich Nietzsche

22. As to the adjective, when in
doubt, strike it out.
Mark Twain

23. You write to communicate to
the hearts and minds of others
what’s burning inside you. And
you edit to let the fire show
through the smoke.
Arthur Plotnik

24. Thank you
for your attention!!!!
Any questions or comments?