Brevity
Brevity is essential for all writing. It forces the writer to be more intentional with their words and keeps readers from having to read through chunks of unneeded text. Brevity according to Webster [1] "is the quality of being brief: such as the use of few words to say something".
Writing for Brevity
When writing for brevity and avoiding "humbug and general vagueness" Orwell suggests that you do the following:[1]
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Writers should always be brief, precise and direct. When writing a word it should mean exactly what it says it means, no more and no less. Always use the precise word that your writing requires. A dictionary and thesaurus should always be close especially when writing for digital media[2].
References
- Carrol, Brian. (2010). "Writing for Digital Media". New York: Routledge. Retrieved 28 March 2013.