difference between them? While there are entire university courses dedicated to the profession of editing, here are a few things to look for when too many of your sentences are too long. Configure the app by assigning a value for the Foo variable in the. So, if you want to sound smart, don't use big words when simple ones will do. that sentence into a bulleted list. word because and does not contain a comma: When editing, scrutinize subordinate clauses.

Use dashes to give a sudden break or interruption in the sentence flow. year, which gave programmers both an iterative way of solving problems and Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! Todays average sentence is around 15-20 words. They believe that using big words makes them look smart and intelligent. Of course not. Overly long sentences are a common problem in academic writing. Why should you use active voice instead of passive voice? Why? Shorter code is typically easier for others to read. simple conditional branching block in which the if statement statement marks the end of the conditional branching block. Dont think too much like a marketer when baring your soul.

Within active voice, the subject performs an action. I fell over stupidly and then hit my head on the cold ground, then I crawled to the hospital where I proceeded to wet my pants, and I was very embarrassed! can be shortened to, I fell, hitting my head. Shorter code is typically easier to maintain than longer code. In this article, well show you how to create those sentences and simplify reading of your content at the same time. Stephen Bourne invented the Bourne Shell in 1977. relies on Polish prefix notation. For example, the following very long sentence contains multiple thoughts: The late 1950s was a key era for programming languages because IBM invented by Stephen Bourne in 1977 who was also a computer scientist at For example: In actual fact, every single nurse worked from 3 am in the morning to twelve midnight. You. You dont need to know all the rules of grammar to break them. implementation for the following reasons: In fact, the same rules apply to technical writing: Finding the shortest documentation implementation takes time but is You just need to copy and paste your sentence in the tools box, and then it will give you a new version of the same sentence with fewer words and easy-to-understand words. Should You Use Past or Present Tense When Citing Researchers Work? Tips to stop avoiding your academic writing, When you say yes to others, you say no to yourself. Consequently, by the late 1950s, programmers could solve problems The following sentences contain defining relative clauses: The book that I bought yesterday was very interesting. By cutting down the length of a sentence, you can put across your message more clearly. Summarizing key points at the end of a paragraph or section. Extra lines of documentation introduce additional points of failure. For For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Theres nothing wrong with long sentences. Nobody is impressed by a five-paragraph email if it could have been five bullet points. What's the Save time and grow business using TextCortex. I used to keep a printout of the below on my desk, but now Im normal. endobj Whether youre a busy professional taking a break from work, or an author looking to Getting your writing perfect can be challenging. Using simplethough not simplisticsentences will help more people connect with your content. They don't help clarify the meaning of the sentence, but instead, just repeat what has already been said. Redundancy means using additional words that dont add anything meaningful to a sentence. With practice, you'll spot the extra words and feel enormous happiness in

Learn how your comment data is processed. If Yoast, Grammarly, ProWritingAid, or even Word spell check are used a lot for your writing, then squiggles will have been received for this. For example, the preceding example contains When you see the conjunction or in a long sentence, consider refactoring (It does not matter if we remove who lives next door because it just adds information about where she lives.). Most of us find it much easier to do these tasks on something that someone else wrote. Check out the 10 best ways how to shorten sentences and make them clearer, easier to read, and more effective overall. This is the most common mistake I see in writings, thats not making sentences longer, but confusing and sometimes hard to understand. clarification of the key points. Determine whether Rikona is able to write code in COBOL. Irvine rocks because he can do concise, but he can also write Spuds chapters in Trainspotting. I hope that now that know what you look out for, you can search for specific things and eliminate words that arent doing anything useful in your sentences. There are three main reasons why active voice is a vital part of content marketing: Also, using active voice instead of passive voice in sentences is a good way to shorten your sentences. removing or reducing them. The and is a coordinating conjunction, linking the ideas together. Dont overcut your writing or youll sound like Rorschach from Watchmen. describes (or the verb details), so the resulting sentence could become: This design document describes Project Frambus. Good writing pleases both human beings and our computer overlords. Thats right, even computer algorithms hate your long sentences. z4wG^! ! Pay for the app using a valid credit or debit card. Everyday writing is cumbersome and finding the right words can be hard. Longer sentences meant I was a better writer, right? And do you need that that? Gormenghast, that is, the main massing of the original stone, taken by itself would have displayed a certain ponderous architectural quality were it possible to have ignored the circumfusion of those mean dwellings that swarmed like an epidemic around its outer walls. Try to find different ways to say the same thing - this will make your sentences much more interesting for the reader. Richmond, VA 23233 Copyright 2022 Center for Plain Language All rights reserved. For example, the passive sentence: The hypothesis was supported by the results. When shes not shitposting on Twitter shes talking to other peoples cats and taking photos of attractive walls. It only makes your writing difficult to understand. As an exercise, try cutting out as many words as you can. When I worked for a law firm on their website, Id regularly receive horrifying 50+ word sentences from lawyers. As an uneasy talker who rambles when nervous, I sometimes overdo my word chopping. Study author Michael Frank said: "We had expected that if people choose their words carefully, then they would be more intelligent and have higher verbal intelligence.". Whether youre writing a novel or blog post, heres why you need to craft it around short, clear sentences: You can write classic literature and snappy, accessible copy. For example, he shouted loudlyLike, we know hes loud, because he is shouting. Natalie Mills is a copywriter, SEO doer and occasional artist. source code directly. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates. ultimately worthwhile. Adverbs (words that modify verbs/adjectives and often end in -ly) are culprits for this. Reword the sentence: Instead of saying "You don't like my idea, do you? Guido van Rossum invented: Python is an interpreted language, which Guido van Rossum invented. (If we remove who lives next door, then we cannot tell who this girl is.). Bell Labs, as a superset of features, enhancements, and improvements over hear the pause in the first sentence? However, well-crafted sentences should hover around 15-20 words on average. <>/ExtGState<>/Pattern<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> The first company I worked for had a Style Bible specifying a maximum of 20 words for sentences. Long sentences are good for: On the other hand, short sentences are good for: So, how to shorten a sentence by breaking it into the logical parts? But remember, short sentences add energy to writing. Machine Translators How Well Do They Work? You are a sexy, exciting, talented writer. bulleted list: To alter the usual flow of a loop, call one of the following statements: Refactor the following sentences into something shorter and clearer. Run the app by saying the magic word twice. The following, for instance: Making a sentence too long can be confusing because it is easy to lose track of what was said at the beginning, since they do not give the reader enough time to process what they are reading and by the end of the sentence you might have forgotten where it started! stream The skill lies in knowing when to stop and move on. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. As a kid, I wrote short, snappy sentences.

Its when you leave words out of a sentence because you can guess its meaning. introduced Fortran in 1957 and John McCarthy introduced Lisp the following David Korn invented the KornShell in 1983. IBM introduced Fortran in 1957. Thats 51 words with barely a pause for breath. Be one of the first to join our upcoming Discord community, where you'll get daily accountability, moral support, cute pet photos, and more. If you are not confident about your writing skills, then you can use a paraphrasing tool. Short sentences communicate more powerfully Break up large chunks of text into smaller paragraphs with just one main idea per paragraph. Many studies have found that using longer words can make you seem less intelligent than using shorter words. The following table suggests replacements for a few common bloated phrases: Shorten the following sentences without changing their meaning: A clause is an independent logical fragment of a sentence, which contains an To get started with the Frambus app, you must first find the app at a For example, She walked quickly down the street can be changed to She hurried down the street without changing its meaning at all. KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID. When I need to go over 20-25 words, I usually Frankenstein my long sentence together using dashes; I find semi-colons difficult and hate using them. And some people LOVE rich, flowery, overlong sentences, including me! That sounds really boring. This is not necessarily because we are better writers than others, but because its difficult to be objective about our own writing. Use semicolons, colons, and dashes sparingly, but overusing them can make your writing sound choppy and confusing. which is one of the systems For example, the key message in the following sentence is that Introducing new topics and making statements that don't need much explanation. The use of the passive voice is often frowned upon by style guides because it can make writing unclear, vague, and wordy. Also, ask whether you need to say a thing was really or very something. For example, see if you can spot the unnecessary words in All of these things are perfectly normal when were writing our drafts. If your sentences are too long, replacing these phrases with a single word will help reduce your word count. Dont do it. My skill was to unravel legalese into accessible plain English. Giving background information or setting the scene. Remember the tip earlier to write like youre talking to a mate? Keep the one sentence = one idea Saying In my opinion, the political atmosphere is toxic, for instance, means exactly the same as The political atmosphere is toxic. If you need to shorten a sentence, try looking for padding phrases you could remove.