Concision
In common usage and linguistics, concision is a communication principle of eliminating redundancy, generally achieved by using as few words as possible in a sentence while preserving its meaning. More generally, it is achieved through the omission of parts that impart information that was already given, that is obvious or that is irrelevant. Outside of linguistics, a message may be similarly "dense" in other forms of communication.
For example, a sentence of "It is a fact that most arguments must try to convince readers, that is the audience, that the arguments are true." may be expressed more concisely as "Most arguments must demonstrate their truth to readers." the observations that the statement is a fact and that readers are its audience are redundant, and it is unnecessary to repeat the word "arguments" in the sentence.
"Laconic" speech or writing refers to the pithy bluntness that the Laconian people of ancient Greece were reputedly known for.
In linguistic research, there have been approaches to analyze the level of succinctness of texts using semantic analysis.
Statements of the principle
wrote in a 1657 letter:Mark Twain, in a criticism of James Fenimore Cooper, stated, "Eschew surplusage."
William Strunk and E. B. White's The Elements of Style, an American English style guide, advises:
Joseph M. Williams's Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace suggests six principles for concision:
- Delete words that mean little or nothing.
- Delete words that repeat the meaning of other words.
- Delete words implied by other words.
- Replace a phrase with a word.
- Change negatives to affirmatives.
- Delete useless adjectives and adverbs.