Some words add nothing but length to your copy. Here are some examples.

Adjectives

Use adjectives to make your meaning more precise and be cautious of those you find yourself using to make it more emphatic.

The word very is a case in point. If it occurs in a sentence you have written, try leaving it out and see whether the meaning is changed. The omens were good may have more force than The omens were very good.

Avoid:

• strike action (strike will do);
• cutbacks (cuts);
• track record (record);
• large-scale (big); and
  
• weather conditions (weather).

Prepositions

Remove as many prepositions after verbs as possible.

• people can meet rather than meet with;
• companies can be bought and sold rather than bought up and sold off;
• budgets can be cut rather than cut back;
• plots can be hatched but not hatched up;
• organisations should be headed by rather than headed up by chairmen;
• markets should be freed, rather than freed up; and
  
• children can be sent to bed rather than sent off to bed—though if they are to sit up they must first sit down

Remember all this advice you are given free, or for nothing, but not for free.

Other unnecessary words

Certain words are often redundant. For example:

• A top politician or top priority is usually just a politician or a priority.
• A major speech usually just a speech.
• A safe haven is a haven.
• Most probably and most especially are probably and especially.
• The fact that can often be shortened to That (That I did not do so was a self-indulgence).
• Loans to the industrial and agricultural sectors are just loans to industry and farming.

Say ‘no’ to community

Community is another word often best cut out. Not only is it usually unnecessary, it purports to convey a sense of togetherness that may well not exist. So:

• the black community means blacks;
  
• the business community means businessmen;
• the homosexual community means homosexuals;
• the intelligence community means spies; and
  
• the international community, if it means anything, means other countries, aid agencies or, just occasionally, the family of nations.

Say what you mean

Don’t beat around the bush (or use cliches like beat around the bush).

• A heart condition is usually a bad heart.
• A near miss is probably a near hit.
• Positive thoughts presumably means optimism.
• Industrial action is usually industrial inaction, industrial disruption or a strike.
  
• A courtesy call is generally a sales offer or an uninvited visit.
  
• A substantially finished bridge is an unfinished bridge.
  
• Someone with high name-recognition is well known.
  
• Something with reliability problems probably does not work.
• If yours is a live audience, what would a dead one be like?

In general, be concise. Try to be economical in your account or argument

Similarly, try to be economical with words. “As a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigour it will give to your style.” (Sydney Smith)

Raymond Mortimer put it even more crisply when commenting about Susan Sontag: “Her journalism, like a diamond, will sparkle more if it is cut.”

P.S. This article was stolen (and edited slightly) from the economist.