In this post, I walk you through six tips on how to reduce word count without sacrificing the clarity and correctness of your text. They include removing ‘that’ or ‘what,’ swapping passive for active voice, cutting out references to previous content, replacing ‘compared with,’ deleting adjectives and adverbs and transforming negations.
I often see posts about decreasing the word count that advise getting rid of the articles or transition words. Sometimes it may work, especially in scientific or technical writing, but more often, it might not. Others provide more generic advice like ‘be concise’ or ‘remove redundancies.’ Although not without merit, such advice provides little tangible input that one can take and apply to a text without pulling their hair out. Taking a step back and looking critically at one’s work is always challenging, and you might consider finding a beta reader or asking a
professional editor for help.
These posts floating around the net inspired me to write about reducing word count with a proviso. My intention is that non-fiction, academic, business and popular science authors, writers and bloggers will find the following tips helpful when exceeding the word limit without reducing the content or sacrificing correctness, clarity and cohesion. Fiction writers, let me bring to your attention this masterful
post by Louise Harnby about decluttering your dialogue and narrative.
1. Remove ‘that’ or ‘what’
I loved this
tweet because, like Crystal, I often find myself wearing the ‘that’ hat. Not only ‘that’ is often redundant.
When ‘that’ or ‘what’ act as the sentence subject, it is usually easy to rephrase the sentence and spare a few words. Let’s have a look at the example below.
The original sentence:
| What has been difficult to compare with the bibliographical data are the books that are missing from our records. (19 words) |
The revised version:
| The books that are missing from our records have been difficult to compare with the bibliographical data. (17 words) |
We could go further and tighten the sentence some more:
| The books missing from our records have been difficult to compare with the bibliographical data. (15 words) |
Tadaa — from the original nineteen words, we’ve arrived at fifteen without sacrificing any content.
2. Swap passive for active voice
I have written about the
pros of active voice and the turn in the academic journals’ guidelines towards the active voice. But let us look at substituting the passive voice with the active voice as means of decreasing the word count.
The original sentence in passive voice:
| The programme was developed by a group of producers and practitioners focused on regenerative agriculture to address gaps in organic certification. (21 words) |
The sentence rewritten in active voice:
| A group of producers and practitioners focused on regenerative agriculture developed the programme to address gaps in organic certification. (19 words) |
Shifting the focus from the subject to the agent allowed us to lose two words shrinking the word count from twenty-one words to nineteen.
3. Remove references to previous content
References to previous content, prevalent in the statement (opening) sentences within the main body of the text, are a ‘nice-to-have’ but not ‘essential.’ ‘As described in the previous section,’ ‘the previously mentioned’ and so on are wordy. Furthermore, one could argue they add little value to the main point, as illustrated by the below example.
Compare the original sentence:
| As previously mentioned, the price differential between conventional and organic was lower for whole wheat compared with white flour. (19 words) |
…with the revised version:
| The price differential between conventional and organic was lower for whole wheat compared with white flour. (16 words) |
4. Replace ‘compared with’
The comparison sentences are an opportunity for an easy win when reducing the word count. For instance, the below sentence can be further tightened by swapping ‘compared with’ for ‘than,’ ‘versus’ or even ‘vis-à-vis.’
The original sentence:
| The price differential between conventional and organic was lower for whole wheat compared with white flour. (16 words) |
The revised version:
| The price differential between conventional and organic was lower for whole wheat than white flour. (15 words) |
5. Delete adjectives and adverbs
Particularly in academic or scientific writing, the purpose of a publication is to argue a specific point based on evidence, and excessive use of adjectives and adverbs may work towards undermining this purpose. For instance, descriptive fragments may give the reader the impression of the subjective authorial perspective. They may also take the attention away from the evidence. Some argue that in scientific texts, adjectives should only describe physical properties such as colour, size or number. Lastly, the difference between ‘impactful writing’ and ‘very impactful writing’ is not clear-cut, so we might as well drop the modifier and choose a more impactful adjective. For example, instead of describing something as ‘very important,’ try ‘essential’ or ‘crucial’ or focus on explaining why it is important.
6. Transform negations
There is another way to modify your adjectives to make them work in favour of your word count. If you replace the negation with a suffix, you will be able to spare one word. That ought to make a difference in the context of the entire book or paper.
The original sentence:
| The commission was accused of not being objective. (8 words) |
The revised version:
| The commission was accused of being subjective. (7 words) |
Conclusion
Deleting is one of the most challenging tasks when editing your own text. You might feel attached to particular wording or expression of a concept, making it hard to reduce word count. Still, it is essential to ensure that every word carries weight, the text is written clearly and the message is conveyed accurately. Contact me for a
free sample edit if you would like a fresh (read: unbiased and professional) pair of eyes to help you declutter your text (and remember to use my
early bird discount). If you want to hear more from me, including self-editing and writing tips, follow me on
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