Good writing is concise. Especially in the technology age—when messages are often read on the fly on cell phones and PDAs— brevity is key. Less is more. Some online letter-writing utilities even limit responses to a certain number of words. Replace wordy phrases with shorter and more direct expressions. Avoid redundancy. Not only will you find that your paragraphs are shorter, but you will notice that your points are clearer and your arguments are more persuasive.
Here are some wordy and redundant phrases and their concise counterparts.
| at the present time; at this point in time; in this day and age | now |
| because of the fact that; due to the fact that | because |
| are of the opinion that | believe |
| have the ability to | can |
| in spite of the fact that | although, despite |
| last but not least | finally |
| prior to | before |
| concerning the matter of | about |
| the fact that | that |
| basic essentials | essentials |
| refer back to | refer to |
| completely unanimous | unanimous |
| endeavor to | try |
