Writing Powerfully: The Art of Being Concise

Want to write with more impact? Stay tuned—this is the first of our series on Conciseness!

What is Conciseness? Conciseness means enhancing your writing by removing unnecessary content. While it may sound simple, there are numerous techniques to explore and master.

An analogy for this is concentrating something. Take maple syrup, for example. It’s made by collecting sap from trees and boiling it for hours to remove the water, leaving behind a rich, thick syrup. Why go through all that? Because the result is something in high demand. Similarly, by removing what's unnecessary, we add value—and that’s the essence of conciseness. We can make our writing more powerful by cutting out what doesn’t belong.

In the real world, being concise can increase your chances of gaining acceptance into programs, jobs, or schools. When it comes to university applications, concise writing leaves a strong impression and helps you stand out from the competition.

Concise writing doesn't mean that an essay or writing of any type is super short, it simply means that every word counts. It leads to greater reader engagement and it improves chances of publication.

Remember: Remove to Improve! During the revision and editing process, focus on removing unnecessary words to refine your writing.

Let’s dive into Technique #1: Prepositional Phrases. These phrases typically start with prepositions like in, on, at, or over and usually end with a noun—or sometimes a pronoun.

Let’s examine some examples below of reduced prepositional phrases, both unconcise and concise. The phrase 'in a thoughtful manner' contains unnecessary words. The key word here is 'thoughtful.' By simply converting it from an adjective to an adverb—'thoughtfully'—we convey the same meaning in a more concise and impactful way.

Let’s check out another example. In the unconcise version below, we have the sentence: “Andrew is not at home at the present moment.” Here, two prepositional phrases appear back-to-back—“at home” and “at the present moment.” However, we can simplify this by saying: “Andrew isn't home."

Let's take a moment to rewrite the sentence below:

Here's one possible answer:

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If you found this helpful, stay tuned for Part 2! For more writing tips, visit our blog and follow us on social media at goodenglishtutors.com.

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