How to Write Clearly and Concisely
By Faith Mokwenye, ExpertEase Contributor
The insights in this post come from Scott Keyser's workshop on writing with more impact. Watch the live webinar here.
The biggest thing that goes wrong in business writing is that writers make their reader's brain work too hard. The brain has to decode the words before it can get to the ideas. By the time it does, the reader has gone. Scott Keyser, author of Rhetorica and a writing trainer for over 5,000 professionals, has spent two decades helping lawyers, accountants, engineers, and consultants fix this.
"99% of your readers will not give you 100% of their brain power. You're lucky if you get 75%." — Scott Keyser
Writing for the brain your reader gives you, not the brain you wish they had is the whole game. The reader gives every document a budget of brain calories. Once that budget is spent, they're gone. So the job is to spend their brain calories carefully, saving them for the actual ideas, not for decoding the sentences to sound impressive.
Here is how to do that.
1. Shorten your sentences
The longer a sentence is, the more ideas and information it crams in. The reader's brain has to work harder from the opening word to the final full stop. And the harder the brain works, the quicker the reader goes.
The rule, based on the work of Dr. Rudolf Flesch — who wrote some of the best books ever written in plain English — is to keep average sentence length between 15 and 20 words.
Go above 20 and readers lose focus. Go below 15 and the writing reads choppy — peppered and staccato. For example: This is a big project. It will be based in Mumbai. We hope it will succeed. No flow. It reads like bullet points dressed up as sentences.
The sweet spot is 15 to 20. That gives the writing rhythm without losing the reader.
Tip: Microsoft Word has a built-in tool that scores average sentence length automatically.
2. Stop overusing nouns. Use verbs instead.
There's a name for one of the most common problems in business writing: nounitis.
Nounitis is the overuse of nouns. Particularly abstract nouns. Words you can't physically touch like Specialism. Provision. Taxation. Solution. They name ideas, but they don't move the writing forward. They just sit there.
Take a sentence common in business writing:
We specialize in the provision of taxation solutions.
Four abstract nouns in one sentence. Nothing happens. Nobody does anything. The sentence sits there naming things.
The cure is verbs. Verbs are friends. They're words of action and doing. Rewrite with verbs and the sentence comes alive:
We specialize in solving taxation problems.
Two strong verbs. Same meaning. Half the abstract nouns. The reader can see something happening.
There's one specific word worth banning for a week: provide. It's a severely overused word in business writing, and it's a carrier of the nounitis virus. Every use of provide has to be followed by a noun. We provide guidance. We provide solutions. We provide advice. We provide briefings. We provide support.
Ban it. Force a verb instead. Provide guidance becomes guide. Provide solutions becomes solve. Provide advice becomes advise. The writing moves the moment provide gets cut.
3. Omit needless words
A needless word adds no meaning, information, or impact. It can be removed and nothing changes, except the sentence gets tighter.
Four needless phrases that show up in business writing:
- On a daily basis → say daily. One word instead of four. A 75% saving.
- This report is of a confidential nature → say this report is confidential. Another 75% saving.
- We operate in a professional manner → say we operate professionally. Use the adverb. 75% saving.
- This happens to a significant extent → say this happens extensively. Or often. 75% saving again.
Notice the pattern. Each phrase takes what could be one word and stretches it into four or five. The longer version doesn't add weight. It adds clutter.
Concise writing is simple to define. Make the point in the fewest possible words. Not Hemingway-short or telegram-style. Just — don't use four words where one will do.
4. Use plain English Plain
English isn't dumbing down. Plain English is writing in the middle of what's called register — the scale of formality in writing. Formal sits at the top. Slang sits at the bottom. Plain English sits in the middle.
The word money shows the scale clearly. Synonyms tend to land like this:
Top of register — formal: Emolument. Remuneration. Consideration. Liquidity. Remittance. Legal tender.
Middle — plain English: Cash. Pay. Wages.
Bottom — slang: Moolah. Dosh. Dough. Wonga. Cheddar.
Look at what happens as the words move up toward formal. They get longer. They get more Latinate, more derived from Greek. They get harder to spell and they get less concrete. More abstract. Less relatable.
The more formal and abstract the language, the harder the reader's brain has to work. The reader doesn't want to work hard. The harder the writing makes them work, the more likely they are to leave.
Some everyday formal-to-plain-English swaps worth committing to memory:
- Henceforth → from now on
- Hitherto → up to now/ so far
- Assist → help
- Retain → keep
- Transmit → send
- Purchase → buy
- Eradicate → remove/ get rid of
- Request → ask
- Endeavor → try
- Utilize → use
- Significant (when it means big) → big
- Commence → start/ begin
On utilize specifically — why use a three-syllable word when a one-syllable word means the same thing? Use is one syllable. Utilize is three. Utilize doesn't impress the reader.
The bigger point: formal language is designed to push people away not to impress the reader. Reaching for formal words to sound smarter does the opposite of what the writer wants.
5. Read it out loud before you send
This technique is the simplest one, and almost nobody does it.
Every professional writer reads their writing out loud. The point is to hear how the writing will sound to the reader and make them feel.
The ear catches what the eye misses. Sentences that look fine on the page turn out to be too long when spoken. Words that look elegant turn out to be clunky in the mouth. Phrases that read smoothly in silence turn out to need a breath halfway through.
So this is the instruction. Every piece of writing should be read out loud — audibly, out loud — before that great big send button gets pressed.
It takes 30 seconds. It saves a lot of bad sentences.
6. Score the readability
For an objective check on whether the writing is hitting the marks in the shorten your sentences section. Microsoft Word has a built-in tool that produces four numbers based on Dr. Flesch's algorithm. The four numbers are worth knowing.
- Average sentence length (ASL): should be between 15 and 20 words.
- Average characters per word: should be under 5. At 5 or above, the language is needlessly formal.
- Flesch reading ease score: the overall readability as a percentage. Plain English starts at 60%. Higher is better.
- Passive voice percentage: as close to zero as possible.
To activate the readability stats: File → Options → Proofing → check Show readability statistics. Then run a spelling and grammar check, and the four numbers appear at the end.
One caveat. These stats only work properly on body text of at least 200 words. They don't work on headlines, subheadings, or documents that are mostly bullet points.
What clear writing looks like The biggest misconception in business writing is the idea that complicated writing is impressive writing, it isn't. The goal is not simplistic writing. The goal is simple writing — different things. Writing is for adults. Subjects are sometimes complex. The job is to make the complex thing easy to understand.
"We're trying to transplant one idea from our brain into the reader's brain." — Scott Keyser
Watch Scott's full workshop for the rest of his system, including the planning and editing techniques not covered here.
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