OptimalEdits: Tips

tips

A VERB TO AVOID!

Avoid the verbs "to be," “to go,” and “to say”! Almost every sentence that contains "is," "are," "am," "was," "were," etc., will pack more punch if you swap the verb for something juicier.

Examples:

“To be”
	Original: The boy was sad.	Better: The boy mourned, grieved, sorrowed, sighed, languished gloomily for hours.
	Original: She's a great cook.	Better: She cooks brilliantly, creatively, extravagantly.
.	Original: They aren't compatible	Better: They fight, squabble, annoy each other, make each other miserable, barely tolerate each other.
“To Go”
	Original: The boy went to the store.	Better: The boy ran (flew, rushed, ambled, sauntered, strutted, dawdled) to the store.
“To Say”
	Original: "What a fine day!" she said.	Better: "What a fine day!" she cried, exclaimed, murmured under her breath, spat bitterly.

PRUNING DEADWOOD FROM YOUR WRITING!

Many people sprinkle filler phrases like “there is” and “there are” throughout their writing, clogging it with extra words. You can edit out these phrases to tighten up your writing. Not only will you save words, you will make your style livelier and stronger.

Examples:

	Original: There are several ways writers can improve their style by trimming out extra words.	Better: You can improve your style by trimming extra words.
	Original: There is no reason to add empty phrases to your sentences.	Better: Don’t add empty phrases to your sentences.
Another way to prune deadwood from your prose is to recast sentences from the passive to the active voice.
	Original: The document was reviewed by him.	Better: He reviewed the document.
The passive voice can be useful, when the identity of the person you are referring to is unclear or unknown, but often it just makes writing sound awkward, and sometimes it disguises information about who did what.
	Original: Mistakes were made.	Better: Don’t make this mistake!
	Original: There are many ways of addressing this problem.	Better: This problem can be addressed in many ways (note the passive voice used here). Best: You can address this problem in many ways.
	Original: There is a stripe on this sweater.	Better: This sweater has a stripe

FURTHER INSIGHT REGARDING THE ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

Converting a sentence from passive voice to active will mean inventing a subject for the active-voice verb. (The single advantage of the passive voice is that it allows the writer to be a bit blurry about who or what actually performed the action; sometimes this is a useful thing!)
Examples:

	Passive: The ball was hit by the boy.	Active: The boy hit the ball.
	Passive: The market is affected by many forces.	Active: Many forces affect the market.
	Passive: Much champagne will be drunk at the wedding.	Active: People (or guests, or revelers), will drink much champagne at the wedding.
(See, we needed to invent a subject this time; the passive voice allowed those tipsy revelers to go unidentified, even as to species.)
	Passive: Serious mistakes were made in the analysis.	Active: We (or you, or they, or the scientists) made serious mistakes in the analysis.
(If we are the ones who made the mistakes, we may well want to hide behind the passive voice!)

WRITER'S BLOCK

When you get stuck, or can't figure out how to express a thought, try this trick: simply stop writing, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and then take a tip from Hemingway: write the truest sentence you know.

Alternatively, think about how you would explain your thought to a friend, and then write it exactly as you would speak it.

FOR OPTIMAL PROOFREADING

Read the text aloud at a reasonable pace (too quickly and you won't hear a thing). It gives you that extra millisecond to hear an echo or alliteration that you may not want. It also helps you supply a missing word, or hear a repeated one.

For more writing tips check out some of the sites below.