use short sentences. An average of 10 to 20 words per sentence is acceptable today. Long sentences are tiring and, in most cases, can be shortened by removing unnecessary words.
Prefer the simple to the complex. The Englishman, HW Fowler and his brother in their famous book ‘The King’s English’, put it best: “He prefers the familiar word to the implausible. He prefers the concrete word to the abstract one. He prefers the single word to the circumlocution. He prefers the short word to the long one. He prefers the word Saxon to romance.”
Prefers the Familiar Word. Most people’s conversation is limited to about 3,000 words. Well educated people probably know 20 to 30 thousand words. It all depends on who you are writing for. Common words will be understood by everyone and virtually any idea can be expressed with a vocabulary of just 3,000 words. Avoid using unfamiliar words simply to impress or force a reader to go to the dictionary (they won’t).
Avoid unnecessary words. Imagine that there is a tax to be paid on the words used. Think about each word, “Can it be cut?” Writing gains clarity when it is concise.
use action verbs. “He drove very fast on the highway.” Much better it is, he ran down the road.” The words ‘very fast’ are adjectives used to strengthen the word ‘drove’. ‘Sped’ is a fact, ‘very fast’ is an opinion.
write while you talk. The written word is a substitute for the spoken word. The habit of writing as if you were speaking almost always leads to clearer writing. Just remove the ‘ums’ and ‘er’s and repetitions that usually appear in the spoken word.
Use terms your reader can imagine. However, avoid abstract words whenever possible. Aesop’s fables have been read for thousands of years because he turned abstractions like greed, envy, and anger into stories that could be acted out. Jesus did this also with his parables.
Connect with your Reader Experience. Put yourself in your reader’s shoes, otherwise he or she might understand your words but misinterpret their meaning. The reader might have a different terrain than the writer. A good example is in politics, where people from one nation who talk about aggression can appear hypocritical to the other nation due to preconceived ideas about who is the aggressor from each side’s point of view.
use variety. Most prose, even if the subject matter is serious, may contain some humor, some surprise, perhaps a personal injection. Avoid flat, monotonous prose.
Write to express, not to impress. It is still all too common for people to resort to long unfamiliar words and meandering prose, especially when making formal announcements. The cops say, “the thief was caught,” no, “We caught the thief.” The notices say “Please refrain from smoking” instead of “Please do not smoke.” Nobody really uses the word ‘refrain’ in normal conversation, so why use it in an ad? It’s done to sound important, to make the ad look official, to impress, not to express.
