How to write clearly: short sentences, active voice and cutting filler

TUREFF• •0

Clear writing is not a talent you either have or lack. It is a set of habits, and most of them come down to one idea: make the reader do as little work as possible. Whether you are writing a report, a message to a colleague or a post on a forum, the same few techniques make the biggest difference.

Know what you want to say first

Most unclear writing is unclear thinking on paper. Before you start, try to say your main point out loud in one or two sentences. If you cannot, you are not ready to write yet; you are still working out what you think. A useful test is to imagine explaining it to a friend over coffee. Whatever you would say first is probably what you should write first.

Keep sentences short

Long sentences are not wrong, but they ask the reader to hold several ideas at once. When a sentence carries more than one main idea, split it.

Before: Due to the fact that the meeting was moved, which nobody had told us about, we arrived late and missed the first part of the presentation.
After: Nobody told us the meeting had moved. We arrived late and missed the start of the presentation.

Vary the length so the writing does not sound robotic, but let short sentences do the heavy lifting. A short sentence after a long one lands with force.

Prefer the active voice

In the active voice, the subject does the action: "The committee approved the plan." In the passive, the action happens to the subject: "The plan was approved by the committee." The passive is often longer and can hide who is responsible, as in "mistakes were made". The passive has its uses. It is fine when the actor is unknown or unimportant ("The building was finished in 1990"), or when you want to keep the focus on the thing acted upon. Just make it a choice rather than a habit.

Cut filler

Many words add length without meaning. Go through a draft and look for these:

Empty openers: "It is important to note that", "In order to", "The fact that"
Intensifiers: very, really, extremely, quite, basically, actually
Doubled phrases: "each and every", "first and foremost", "end result"
Hedges you do not need: "I think that perhaps it might be"

"In order to" becomes "to". "Due to the fact that" becomes "because". "At this point in time" becomes "now". Each cut is small, but together they make a piece noticeably quicker to read.

Choose concrete words

Abstract words make readers translate. "We experienced significant customer dissatisfaction" is vaguer than "Forty customers complained in a week" (if that is what happened). "Improve communication" is vaguer than "send a summary after every meeting". Concrete writing also means preferring ordinary words to impressive ones: "use" rather than "utilise", "help" rather than "facilitate", "start" rather than "commence". Jargon is acceptable when your readers share it and it is genuinely more precise; otherwise, it is a wall.

Put the important thing first

Readers skim. Lead with the conclusion, the request or the answer, then give the reasons. Within paragraphs, open with a sentence that says what the paragraph is about. Headings and bullet points help when there are several separate points, but do not chop a connected argument into fragments.

Edit in passes

Trying to fix everything at once is overwhelming. Instead, read the draft several times, each with one job:

Structure: is the main point clear, and is everything in a sensible order?
Cutting: remove sentences and paragraphs that do not earn their place.
Sentences: split long ones, switch needless passives to active, replace vague words.
Words: hunt filler and repetition.
Proofreading: spelling, punctuation, names and numbers.

Reading aloud is the quickest way to catch clumsy phrasing. If you stumble or run out of breath, the reader will too.

A quick checklist

Can I state my point in one sentence?
Does the most important information come first?
Have I split any sentence that carries two ideas?
Have I removed words that add nothing?
Would a reader outside my field understand every term?

Clear writing takes longer to produce than muddled writing, but it saves your reader far more time than it costs you. Share a sentence you have been struggling with, or your own favourite editing trick, in the comments below.