This document provides tips for tightening writing by using active voice, eliminating unnecessary words like "that", reducing the overuse of adverbs and adjectives, removing weasel words like "start to" and "in order to", avoiding verbosity, eliminating redundant words like "currently", starting sentences in a more interesting way than with "there is/are", and using contractions to make writing more personable. It encourages applying these tips through an exercise on another website.

1. Tighten your writing
Prof. Mark Grabowski
markgrabowski.com

2. Use active voice
• Reword passive voice where possible. Whether
referring to general passive (“The food was eaten
by him” instead of “He ate the food”) or present
progressive passive (“The food is being served by
the waiters” instead of “the waiters are serving
the food”), most of the time a sentence will be
stronger if the passive voice is avoided. An easy
way to seek and destroy unwanted passive
construction is do a “Find” for ing, was, is, it was,
and there was, to name a few.

3. Eliminate That Unnecessary Word
• Which word, you ask? “That.” It’s one of the
most superfluous words, helpful for clarity about
10 percent of the time. The other 90 percent, it’s
filler and makes your work seem unpolished.
Read these sentences after removing the
offending word.
– She felt that her heart was breaking.
– The strawberry chiffon was the most delicious cake
that I’ve ever eaten.
(Of course, the word has its uses; just be sure
you’re choosing correctly between that and
which.)

4. Adverbs/Adjectives Overuse
• Adverbs and adjectives are necessary for
expressive writing, but adverbs are often abused.
Don’t let these overused filler words obscure
your work:
– Very, Really, Actually, Probably, Definitely, Just,
Somewhat, Extremely, Pretty, Kind of, Rather
• According to The Elements of Style: “These are
the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking
the blood of words.”

5. Cut the weasel words
• All writers have pet words that pop up like
weeds in their written work. Common
examples include start to, began to, in order
to, and just. These are literary tics that disrupt
the flow of a sentence—almost as distracting
as a physical tic.
– I went to the garage in order to warm up the car.
– It looks like it might start to rain.
– He enrolled at school in the Fall of 2017.

6. Don’t be verbose
• Don’t use multiple words when one word will
do. For example, the phrase “at this point in
time” is a circumlocution for “now.” Similarly,
just say “9 p.m.” instead of “9:00 p.m. in the
evening.”
• Remove redundancies, such as:
– Actual fact, forever and ever, major breakthrough,
past history, plan ahead, postpone until later,
expected surprise, written down, unintentional
mistake

7. Eliminate “currently”
• Avoid “currently.” “Currently” is virtually
always redundant. Don’t write: “Malik Brown
is currently a communications director.” If
Malik Brown is anything, he’s that at that
moment; you don’t need “currently” to clarify.
Just get rid of it.

8. Avoid there is / there are
• Eliminate “there is” or “there are” at the
beginning of sentences This is often a symptom
of lazy writing. There are lots of better, more
interesting ways to start sentences. Oops. See
how easy it is to make this mistake? Instead of
starting a sentence with “there is,” try turning
the phrase around to include a verb or start with
you. For example, replace the sentence above
with “Start your sentences in a more interesting
way.” If your copy includes a lot of phrases that
begin with “there is” or “there are,” put some
time into rewriting most of them.

9. Use contractions
• Which sounds more personable?
– I am heading to the market that is close to my
house.
– I’m heading to the market that’s close to my
house.
• Contractions make your writing sound
friendlier, like you’re (not you are) a real
person. And that makes it easier to connect
with readers.
• Contractions can also make your story easier
to read and comprehend.

10. Tightening Exercise
Now, try applying the tips you
just learned. Visit:
http://bit.ly/2dGVne4

11. Sources
• The Write Life: “25 Editing Tips for Tightening
Your Copy,””http://thewritelife.com/edit-your-
copy/
• Positive Writer: “6 Quick Tricks to Help You
Tighten Up Your Writing,” at
http://positivewriter.com/tighten-your-writing/
• Grammarly: “5 Exercises to Tighten Your Writing
for 2014’s National Day on Writing,” at
http://bit.ly/2eJWd7x
• Udemy: “Redundancy Examples: How to Find
Redundancy in Writing,”
https://blog.udemy.com/redundancy-examples/