Wordiness, Redundancy, Euphemisms, and Slang

Wordiness is a term used to define the use of unnecessary words, phrases, and clauses.  A paper should have a clear, concise style that
easily conveys your point to the reader.  Some phrases that are frequently used include

                due to the fact                          use "because"

	at this point in time                 use "now"
	concerning the matter of        use "about"

"Who" and "which" clauses are often unnecessary in sentences. Consider the following:

	"The boy, who was arrested, was taken to jail" sounds better as "The arrested boy was taken to jail."

	 "The car, which was stolen, was returned to its owner" sounds better as "The stolen car was returned to its owner."

Overuse of prepositional phrases can also lead to wordiness.

     	"On the day of her wedding, Sara was sure of her feelings for Jack" sounds better as "On her wedding day, Sara was sure she loved Jack."
 
Redundancy is another common problem. Avoid the overuse of the same word in your paper. Use a thesaurus to find words that mean the
same thing but are different.
 

Euphemisms and Slang

      A euphemism occurs when someone tries to sugar coat words. Some common euphemisms are listed below along with their proper terms:

    he kicked the bucket  or  he passed away should be he died
    he was under the influence of alcohol should be he was drunk
    economically deprived should be poor
      

    Slang is a word or words that are non-standard English. Slang words often originate in high school or college, but they are inappropriate for college writing.  Some examples follow:

    "Cool!"  "grossed out"  "the bomb"

 

 Return to Proofing Back to FAQ's