Strategi for Writing Concise Descriptions ... ok

Concise writing is clear writing. By definition, concise writing communicates in as few words as necessary. Everything in a sentence other than the subject, verb, and object is description. Descriptions cause most of the “fluff” in sentences, but, fortunately, some simple strategies will help you write concise descriptions. Simplifying ownership You can show ownership in two ways, with a possessive or a prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases always make writing less concise. Using possessives, such as the apostrophe-S, will make writing more concise. Example 1.a, prepositional phrase: The purpose of the CEO is to create an environment for efficiency. (12 words) Example 1.b, possessive: The CEO’s purpose is to create an environment for efficiency. (10 words) In example 1, revising the prepositional phrase reduces the sentence’s word count by 2 words. This might not seem significant, but it is. First, if you do this multiple times in a document, the overall effect is more concise writing. You will have removed many unnecessary words. Second, the writing will be stronger overall because you will have removed the weak prepositional phrases. I only endorse prepositional phrases for ownership when the “owner” is a phrase of 3 or more words. With the possessive, the sentence may be confusing or awkward because the sentence has multiple descriptive words before naming the thing being described. Each case needs to be considered carefully. In example 2, the sentence with the prepositional phrase may be better than sentence with the possessive. Example 2.a, prepositional phrase: The design of the ergonomic latex foam chair compensates for spine curvature. Example 2.b, possessive: The ergonomic latex foam chair’s design