Do you wish to improve your writing skills? Below are some web content rewording tips on how to reword your sentences for a clearer and more concise output.
Change passive sentences into active voice.
Passive voice can lead to awkward sentences and make your writing flat and boring. In contrast, the active voice makes it easier for readers to understand your ideas because you write the sentences in logical order. Thus, to turn passive sentences into active ones, follow these three steps using the sample sentence, “The cake was eaten by Mary.”
- Start your active voice sentence with the doer of the action, “Mary.”
- Make the verb (eaten) active by putting it in the same tense as the helper (was) as in “Mary ate…”
- Write the subject (the cake) after the verb because it receives the action as in “Mary ate the cake”.
Reduce or avoid wordy phrases.
Make your sentences clearer and more concise by removing wordy phrases. Here are samples and their replacements.
| Wordy Phrase | Replacement |
| Due to the fact that | Because |
| In light of the fact that | |
| With regard to | About |
| With regard to | |
| Is able to | Can |
| Has the capacity to |
Limit prepositional phrases (PPs).
Prepositions are often vital to a sentence, but writers can clutter sentences by depending on them. Hence, to limit their use, try these simple tactics.
a.) Remove PPs by applying the active voice.
From “Your figures were checked by the research department” to “the research department checked your figures.”
b.) Substitute the prepositional phrase with an adverb.
From “The politician responded to the allegations with vehemence”
to “the politician responded to the allegations vehemently.”
c.) Use an apostrophe, not a PP, to show possession.
From “She was disturbed by the violent images in the movie” to “the movie’s violent images disturbed her.”
d.) Remove PPs by reducing nominalizations.
From “Their attempt to provide a justification of the expense was unsuccessful” to “their attempt to justify the expense was unsuccessful.”
e.) Delete PPs if the meaning is clear without them.
From “The best outcome for this scenario would be an incremental withdrawal” to “the best outcome would be an incremental withdrawal.”
Pay attention to wordiness.
Wordiness is the most common problem of most writers; thus, to limit it, sort and remove the following details from your sentences.
- Words that explain the obvious or give excessive details
- Unnecessary determiners and modifiers
- Repetitive wording
- Redundant pairs
- Redundant categories
Don’t make it hard for your readers to understand your thoughts, especially when you’re writing content for a web site. For more blogging tips and services, visit our web site today!