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Business English Tip of the Week

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Cut out Wordy Phrases and Redundancy from your writing

27 Oct 2024

Shorter is nearly always better. Short words are clearer than their wordy alternatives. When you have a number of wordy phrases in a letter, memo, email, etc., the document loses clarity. Short doesn't mean simple - it means that you've considered the language you are using carefully with your reader in mind.

Replace these wordy phrases with their concise alternatives.

WORDY PHRASES
CONCISE
after the conclusion of
after
at the present time
now
despite the fact that
although
has been proved to be
is
in the event that
if
in the near future
soon
in view of the fact that
because/since/as
is found to be
is
is in a position to
can
with reference to
about

You should also watch out for redundancies like these below. Don't repeat yourself!

REDUNDANT PHRASES
CONCISE
advance planning
planning
exactly identical
identical
forward progress
progress
joint cooperation
cooperation
necessary requirement
requirement
new breakthrough
breakthrough
postpone until later
postpone
 

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