Concision = Precision: Two Worksheets

Concision = Precision

One element of concise writing is eliminating redundancies. Cut away.

1. a distance of ten yards

2. a myriad of sources

3. absolute guarantee

4. absolutely essential

5. absolutely sure

6. actual experience, past experience

7. added bonus

8. add an additional

9. advance planning, advance notice, advance warning, advance reservations

10. all meet together

11. all-time record

12. alongside of

13. already existing

14. and moreover

15. as for example

16. ask a question

17. as to whether

18. as yet

19. at a later date

20. at the present time

21. at some time to come

22. any and all

23. ATM machine, PIN number, etc.

24. baby boy was born

25. basic fundamentals

26. best ever

27. brief moment

28. came at a time when

29. cancel out

30. close scrutiny

31. collaborate together

32. completely demolished, completely destroyed completely opposite, completely surrounded, complete monopoly

33. consensus of opinion, general consensus

34. controversial issue

35. cooperate together

36. costs a total of, costs the sum of

37. continue on

38. current trend, current status

39. direct confrontation

40. each and every

41. estimated roughly at

42. every now and then

43. exact opposites

44. exact same

45. eye witness

46. fall down, rise up

47. fellow classmates

48. few in number

49. filled to capacity

50. final outcome

51. finally ended

52. first and foremost

53. first began

54. first of all

55. follow after

56. foot pedal

57. free gift

58. for the price of $3

59. gather together

60. had gone previously

61. hard facts

62. hollow tube

63. in the state of Virginia

64. in the month of October

65. initial introduction

66. integral part

67. irregardless

68. join together

69. LCD Display

70. last of all

71. local residents

72. many different reasons

73. many in number

74. major breakthrough

75. mean it sincerely

76. midway between

77. might possibly

78. old cliché

79. old proverb

80. past history

81. past experience

82. personal opinion

83. protest against

84. refer back

85. serious crisis

86. small in size

87. specific example

88. summer months

89. surrounded on all sides

90. true facts

91. the color brown

92. the final conclusion

93. 10 a.m. in the morning

94. ten different people

95. ugly in appearance

96. unintentional mistake

97. Up to, maybe more

98. visible to the eye

99. written down

100. whether or not

Concision = Precision: Edit the extra verbiage out of the following sentencess.

1. More and more students are riding bicycles these days.
2. Marge cannot help but wonder how different life would have been without Homer.
3. Use the ATM machine in the Reitz Union.
4. She wrote her own autobiography.
5. He falsely misrepresented the situation.
6. She was part of a small clique of insiders that met after class.
7. The dog circled around the cat.
8. The college depends on grant funds to equip computer labs.
9. These sentences have to be exactly right.
10. The Steve Miller Band is an added bonus.
11. The church is a safe haven for illegal immigrants.
12. Are you absolutely sure that dress is in fashion?
13. With a little advance planning, we can get good tickets.
14. The consensus of opinion is that a military draft is off the table.
15. No weed killer will completely eradicate nuisance plants.
16. If 125 students were in this class, the room would be filled to capacity.
17. Foreign imports of oil have been growing steadily.
18. Sign up now and get a free gift.
19. Let’s join together in singing our national anthem.
20. Upon seeing an alligator, my natural instinct is to flee.
21. Sororities depend on the mutual cooperation of their members.
22. Never at any time have I seen so many bright students in one room.
23. The Tampa Bay Rays set a new record for scoring runs in the playoffs.
24. Past experience teaches us never to wear white after Labor Day.
25. The reason he loves surgery is because of its complexity.
26. The class settled into a regular routine of quizzes and exercises.
27. A few transfer students will arrive when school resumes again in January.
28. All was quiet until a bomb suddenly exploded outside Baghdad.
29. An orange is round in shape.
30. The end result was an increase in drunken driving arrests.
31. Study until such time as you can recite the rules from memory.
32. That cilantro was just exactly what the salsa needed.
33. First and foremost, the story must be newsworthy.
34. After the test, students may revert back to bad writing habits.
35. Sarah urged Jews to schlep to the state of Florida.