Cut what the reader can infer
Most bloat is words the reader already has — the empty tic, the doubled synonym, the meaning another word carries; delete all three.
On this page
"In my personal opinion, it is necessary that we should not ignore the opportunity to think over each and every suggestion offered." Nothing there is ungrammatical, and the meaning is plain — yet the writer sounds inarticulate, because nearly every word is one the reader already has. The same thought: "We should consider each suggestion." Compression isn't about short sentences; it's about cutting what the reader can infer, so less of their attention goes to decoding and more is left for your idea.
How it works
Three kinds of word are already carried elsewhere, and all three can go. Empty tics — actually, basically, really, certain, various, particularly — are throat-clearing that dilutes the message before it starts. Doubled words — each and every, full and complete, aid and abet — are a habit from when English writers paired a French or Latin word with an Anglo-Saxon one to sound learned; today one of the pair only weighs you down, so keep the stronger. Implied words are the subtle ones: "I saw it with my own eyes" — what else would you see it with? A word can imply its modifier (anticipate already means upcoming), its category (pink in colour), or a whole phrase (learn implies attempting). Read through the words to the ideas and delete whatever a reader would supply for free.
Why it matters
Every redundant word is a small tax on attention, and the reader reads the tax as you: vague, padded, unsure. Catching the inferable is also the clearest sign of a writer paying attention — noticing "each and every" is exactly what separates people who know what they're doing from people who don't. Lean prose doesn't only read faster; it makes the writer sound like an authority.
The minimalism test, at every scale
Cormac McCarthy gave the economist W. Brian Arthur a single question to run over a draft: is it possible to preserve my original message without that punctuation mark, that word, that sentence, that paragraph, or that section? The power is in the escalating scale — you don't only cut words, you ask the same question of whole sentences, paragraphs, and sections, and delete anything the message survives without. Minimalism here isn't brevity for its own sake; it's clarity, because every element you remove is one less thing standing between the reader and the point.
Try it
- Hunt your tic words — actually, basically, really, certain, various — and cut them; the sentence rarely changes meaning.
- Find doubled pairs and keep the stronger single word.
- For each remaining word ask: does another word here already imply this? If so, delete it — modifier, category, or whole phrase.
Common pitfalls
Mistaking compression for shortening. The goal isn't the fewest words; it's cutting the inferable ones — a longer sentence with no dead words beats a short one that's still padded. And don't strip words that carry rhythm or genuine emphasis; the target is redundancy, not everything.
These words are like throat clearing before you speak. They're nervous habits that dilute your message before you even begin.
WILLIAM · HOW TO ARTICULATE YOUR THOUGHTS · 2026
If the reader would supply the word for free, stop paying for it.
Drawn from
- William, How to Articulate Your Thoughts More Clearly than 99% of Writers (Writer Science, 2026).
- William, The Writing Secret That Turned an Unknown Academic Into a Thought Leader (Writer Science, 2025) — Cormac McCarthy's minimalism test, at every scale.
- Joseph M. Williams, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace — the lessons on concision (redundant pairs, modifiers, categories, and implications).
- Related: Find the one exact word, Write in the affirmative, Cut the runway and fix the ending first.