Editing For Brevity? Be Careful What You Omit, Your Sentence Might Need It
Many writers and editors recommend chopping each sentence into the minimum amount of words. While I can appreciate the value in that, do exercise some caution when jumping into such “scissor mode.” In some cases, certain words that may seem unnecessary actually contribute to preventing ambiguity.
Take this example, for instance:
He was evicted from the building for partying too much and improper maintenance.
While it will probably pass most English grammar checkers and you can glean what the writer is getting at, it might not be correct in some contexts. Some readers, in fact, might misconstrue the “improper maintenance” as a second direct object for “partying too much,” which isn’t correct. Now, if you simply didn’t remove the additional preposition “for” in the second item, there would be no confusion, as below:
He was evicted from the building for partying too much and for improper maintenance.
Notice how one word changed the entire sentence from being an ambiguous string of words into a clear statement? That’s the danger of over-editing (especially by those lacking the experience) – you might end up removing sentence elements that serve to clarify the message.
The next time you remove words for brevity, ask yourself: “Does this sentence make sense on all levels? Is there no room to interpret it differently?” If the answer is “yes,” then delete all you want; if it’s “no,” however, then best keep the extra words in.