Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
More Quotes from William Strunk, Jr.:
If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud!William Strunk, Jr.
Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language.
William Strunk, Jr.
Opinions scattered indiscriminately about leave the mark of egotism.
William Strunk, Jr.
Vigorous writing is concise.
William Strunk, Jr.
To show what happens when strong writing is deprived of its vigor, George Orwell once took a passage from the Bible and drained it of its blood. First, below, is Orwell's translation then, the verse. Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must inevitably he taken into account . George Orwell I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all.
William Strunk, Jr.
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