Wordiness

Wordiness is the use of excessive or unnecessary words to express an idea or meaning. It can make writing and speech unclear, tedious, and difficult to follow. It often involves using more words than are needed to convey the intended message, resulting in redundancy, circumlocution, and a lack of conciseness. Effective communication strives for clarity and brevity, whereas Wordiness obscures the core message, frustrating the audience. Skilled writers and speakers aim to eliminate superfluous language, ensuring their ideas are presented in the most direct and impactful manner.

Wordiness meaning with examples

• The proposal, in its current form, is filled with significant and noticeable wordiness. For example, the sentence, 'Due to the fact that the project is behind schedule,' could simply be rewritten as 'Because the project is behind schedule.' Removing unnecessary phrases improves readability and strengthens the proposal's impact by focusing on the essential information.
• Her presentation suffered from wordiness; she used numerous filler phrases and repeated points unnecessarily. To illustrate, instead of saying 'The main thing is,' she kept saying 'I want to emphasize that.' Editing and focusing on the core arguments would make her message clearer and more memorable for the audience, improving its effectiveness.
• The technical manual's Wordiness made it challenging to understand. For instance, rather than stating, 'The user must initiate the procedure,' it said, 'It is the responsibility of the user to start and begin to commence the process, the operation, the action of doing the procedure.' This lengthy explanation made the instructions confusing and less user-friendly.
• The author's first draft was burdened with excessive wordiness; every paragraph contained convoluted sentences and redundant phrasing. For example, 'In order to' frequently replaced 'To' or even being omitted entirely, 'The use of...' used unnecessarily. A good editor could significantly improve the manuscript by streamlining the language and eliminating unnecessary words.
• The customer service representative's responses often suffered from wordiness. She would state, 'As previously mentioned and as indicated,' repetitively. Simple and direct answers are better; a simple response would be 'as I've said' and get straight to the point. Cutting out redundant words is essential for efficient and positive customer interactions.