Omit Needless Words

Omit needless words in writing. As William Strunk and E.B. White so eloquently state, "A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts." Examples of common expressions that violate this wisdom include:

1. "The questions as to whether," can be reduced to a much simpler "whether";
2. "He is a man who," becomes "he";
3. "The reason why is that," to "because";
4. "The fact that," an especially debilitating expression, can be eliminated completely;
5. "At this point in time," a commonly overused expression, can be effectively reduced to "now."

Please practice economy of words; the practice is exhilarating!