\nI mention in yesterday’s post<\/a> a situation where I had to become very economical with my words. What are some quick hints on how to do so?<\/p>\n \nThe other day I noticed, sitting on a shelf, a copy of Canadian Writer’s Companion<\/em>, 1995. It was a perennial textbook for high school students for perhaps decades, maybe even at present in some schools. I flipped through it and discovered it’s packed with helpful hints.<\/p>\n \nOne problem the text mentions is “Wordy sentences” – sentences with more words than necessary. It gives some everyday situations, one being similar to this:<\/p>\n Wordy sentence: Ottawa, which is the capital of Canada, is on the border between Ontario and Quebec.<\/p>\n \nRepaired sentence: Ottawa, the capital of Canada, is on the border between Ontario and Quebec.<\/p>\n In the wordy sentence, “which is” isn’t needed. Doing so cuts two words from a fifteen-word sentence, which represents a reduction by thirteen percent.<\/p>\n \nAnother great example of word cutting is the following:<\/p>\n \nWordy sentence: Some people say Margaret Thatcher, who was a woman leading the UK through some very troubled times, saved it.<\/p>\n \nRepaired sentence: Some people say Margaret Thatcher, leading the UK through some very troubled times, saved it.<\/p>\n \nIn the situation just above, the redundant four words “who was a woman” can be cut out to produce the repaired sentence. The word economization in this case is over twenty percent.<\/p>\n \nCanadian Writer’s Companion<\/em> mentions numerous other common, wordy sentence structures with their repairs. They’re on page 76 in the copy I’ve been studying.<\/p>\n Source:<\/p>\n Luengo, A. (1995). Canadian Writer’s Companion.<\/em> Prentice Hall Ginn Canada.<\/p>\nJack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane,<\/a> Campbell River, BC. \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tutoring English, word economy is a topic. The tutor mentions some hints. I mention in yesterday’s post a situation where I had to become very economical with my words. What are some quick hints on how to do so? The …<\/p>\n