10 Keys to Achieving Better Style
Avoid Excess
Too many lists
Too many bullets
Too many short paragraphs
Too much enumeration…
Avoid Abstract or
Unecessary Pronouns
This
That
It
Those
These
Which
They
Avoid Starting Too Many
Sentences With the Same
Subject
Avoid “to be” and “to have” verb
forms, especially when used with
passive voice
Avoid Stacking
Prepositional Phrases
Behind the tree over the hill under
the barn with the big door.
Avoid Ending Sentences with
Prepositions or Verbs
Requiring Objects
Seriously, I don’t know what his
emotional defect is.
Keep Subjects and Verbs
Close Together
Pay Attention to the
Concrete Verb to Word Ratio
In plans for investment portfolios, a variety of investments
is recommended by financial planners because of their
resistance to economic changes. (1/21)
When they plan investment portfolios, financial planners
recommend a variety of investments because they resist
economic change. (3/17)
Watch Sentence Length
This appendix contains a brief discussion of certain
economic and demographic characteristics of the area in
which the county is located and does not constitute a
part of this official statement, and this appendix has been
obtained from the sources noted, which are believed to
be reliable, although no investigation has been made to
verify the accuracy of such information.
Don’t delay the subject so
far that it becomes hard
to find.
Avoid dangerous beginnings
to sentences
• This …..without a clarifying noun to follow
• It …..
• By ….. followed by a participle (by following,
by forgetting, etc.)
• Being as….Being that