Saturday, June 14, 2008

Keeping to the word count: Tip #5

Be efficient.

That. That. That. That. How often is it that that word pops up in the articles that you write? : )

Yeah, it's only one word - but it's one you can almost always cut, and it'll help tighten up your writing. Get in the habit of reading your work to see whether you've got 'thats' you can eliminate.

Along those lines, always choose the most efficient verb. I'm not going to give you grammar nightmares by getting into all the technical terms for verb tenses. The important thing is to choose active verbs over modified verbs whenever you can.

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