While creativity, flexibility, and storytelling are necessary skills for technical writers, technical writing is not creative writing. In other words, readers of technical writing are not seeking entertainment but to get information quickly and easily. Therefore, technical writers must learn to communicate complex ideas simply and clearly. This article will briefly cover the principles of word choice and concision as taught by Joseph M. Williams in Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace.
Word Choice
Because writing simply often means writing concisely, it is essential to choose the words that most clearly convey the intended meaning for the reader. To do this, writers should learn both the denotations (dictionary entry) and connotations (associated feelings and thoughts) of words. For example, while persuasion and manipulation have similar denotations, the connotations of these words are vastly different; manipulation is perceived far more negatively than persuasion. Please also note that both the denotation and connotation of a word could be different across other cultures, and of course, other languages.
Speaking of other languages, English has a long history of being influenced by other languages—just try searching up a passage in Old English. Many of these influences are still evident in English today, resulting in many words with the same denotation but different connotations, or the same denotation but different levels of complexity. We will look at two examples in this article: Latin and Anglo-Saxon.
The Romans first arrived in Britain in 43 AD, and they stuck around for nearly 400 years. Naturally, their language made a large impact on the language spoken by the native peoples in Britain, especially since those native peoples mostly passed on information through oral traditions. Their impact can be seen in the alphabet we use and many of our more complex words, such as conversation, inquire, cultivate, incinerate, and illuminate. In the aftermath of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, tribal groups rose in power, and in the 400s AD, two Germanic tribes invaded England. The languages of these tribes combined with each other and the language of the native Britons, creating Anglo-Saxon, or Old English. Their impact can be seen in many of modern English’s more simple words, such as talk, ask, grow, burn, and light.
To communicate clearly and professionally, technical writers should use a combination of Latin and Anglo-Saxon words. Latin words can be used to communicate deeper ideas, and Anglo-Saxon words can be used to make those same ideas more direct.
Concision
The greatest enemy of a writer is wordiness. Sometimes we add lots of words attempting to make our point clearer, but those words end up swamping it. One of the best things writers can do to enhance clarity is to cut out extra words. As defined by Williams, there are many categories of empty words you can remove to clean up your writing. Look at some examples from these categories below.
Meaningless Words
| kind of | actually | various | generally |
| certain | particular | virtually | given |
| basically | really | individual | practically |
Doubled Words – just choose one
| full and complete | any and all | each and every | basic and fundamental |
| hope and trust | true and accurate | first and foremost | hopes and desires |
Implied Words – aren’t all tragedies terrible?
| future plans | unexpected surprise | various different | each individual | true facts |
| past history | final outcome | terrible tragedy | free gift | basic fundamentals |
Redundant Words – no need to further describe what large means
| large in size | round in shape | honest in character | of a strange type | area of mathematics |
| of a bright color | period of time | in a confused state | at an early time | shiny in appearance |
Phrases – replace phrases with words
| carefully read what you have written >> edit |
| the thing to do before anything else >> first |
| in the event that >> if |
Negatives – instead of adding “not,” use words we already have
| not different >> similar | not notice >> overlook |
| not the same >> different | not many >> few |
| not allow >> prevent | not include >> omit |
Hedging words – words that add uncertainty
| usually | in some ways | some | could | indicate |
| often | perhaps | may | seem | |
| almost | most | might | appear | |
| possibly | many | can | suggest |
Intensifying words – words that remove uncertainty
| very | obviously | key | essential | establish |
| pretty | certainly | central | crucial | |
| quite | always | major | show | |
| clearly | of course | principle | prove |
Before wrapping up, let’s talk about hedging and intensifying words. There are times when you will need to use words in these categories. For example, when you make a claim, you should add a degree of uncertainty because there could be exceptions. At the same time, you should avoid adding too much uncertainty or else you will not convince your reader. Use the fewest possible hedging and intensifying words to show confidence in your claim while giving space for uncertainty.
Carefully consider what you can remove to make your passage clearer. Be direct—but leave space for exceptions.
Conclusion
When it comes to clarity, the most important principle is to be deliberate about the choices you make. Choose the right word, choose to cut down wordiness, choose to write with clarity.
Further Resources
Writing for Clarity training – https://byu.box.com/s/he7a2vlsfbv2umybdkgl8wahi4jgdlgi
https://perell.com/note/balance-saxon-and-latin-words/
https://www.skidmore.edu/writing_guide/style.php
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/conciseness/index.html
https://www.montana.edu/writingcenter/writing_resources/concision.html
https://www.ldspma.org/cussing-creating-3-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-should-use-profanities-in-your-writing/