Strip every sentence to its cleanest components (Zinsser)
December 11th, 2007 | Published in Quotes, Writing
Strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what—these are the thousand and one adulterations that weaken the strength of a sentence.
–William Zinsser, On Writing Well, p. 8.