Speaker 1: Hi everyone. In today's video I'm going to teach you a tip for writing better. It's how to write concisely and this tip will help you to write more clearly and to get better grades on tests and other writing assignments in school. In today's video first I'm going to talk about what it means to write concisely and why it's important and then I'll show you four strategies that you can use to write more concisely and I'll give you plenty of examples. I love to answer your questions and read your comments so in the description box below I've left a few questions that you can answer in the comments to help you practice after you watch the video. And please remember that every single like, share, subscribe and comment helps me to grow my channel and reach more English learners like you. So if you find this video helpful please don't forget to give it a like and make sure that you are subscribed. So first let's talk about what it means to write concisely. Concise means that you state your idea in the most effective way possible. It means that you use the best vocabulary and grammar to help you write clearly and in a short way. So this can be sometimes tricky for people who are going to school in English because sometimes they think that they need to write longer, they need to write more, that they need to write long sentences or use a lot of words. But actually a good writer states their idea in the most effective way. And to be effective you want to be clear and short. That means that you're not going to use unnecessary words and you're not going to go on and on. You're going to state your idea clearly and briefly. Writing concisely can be especially important in school if you have a writing assignment that has a limit of the number of words. And this sometimes happens. Sometimes on a test you may have limited time so you need to state your idea and to be able to explain it without writing too much because you have limited time. Another time this might happen is if you need to write a report or apply for a scholarship or apply for a job. Sometimes in those situations they give you a space to write but they have a limit of the number of words. They say maximum 500 words and in that case you have to write concisely. Another time is writing summaries. In a summary you have to state the idea concisely in a short way. I understand the idea of wanting to use more words. When you're learning a language and you learn vocabulary you want to use those words. You want to practice it and try writing long sentences. But a good writer states their idea in the most effective way which means that it's clear, it uses the best vocabulary and grammar possible so that the reader feels that it's easier and clearer to understand. So let's take a look at those tips for how to write concisely. Number one, use the most specific exact vocabulary possible. So what happens in this situation is that often when you are writing, especially when you're writing about higher level topics, you may not know some of the specific vocabulary and so you may use several words to try to express the meaning but in English we have one word that states that meaning. For example, if you talk about leaving the house very quickly in the morning so that you won't be late, you can use the verb rush. That would explain that meaning in just one word. Or if you're driving and the car in front of you stops and you suddenly hit the bumper of the car in front of you, there's a verb for that to rear-end a car. So we often have a specific word that can help you to state your idea efficiently in a short way. For example, to run away quickly is to vanish. To get rid of a disease is to eradicate. To think about something that you are excited will happen, that's to anticipate. So again, this advanced vocabulary can help you to express your ideas in a more clear and concise way. For example, if you need to write an essay about some of the difficulties that college students face, you might write this sentence. Because universities in the United States are so expensive, many college students take out loans to help them pay for college. So in this sentence, we have the phrase loans to help them pay for college and we have a word for that. It's called student loans. So in that case, it would be a more concise way to use the vocabulary word that is specific and exact. Student loans. Here's another example. It's hard to afford college because the money that students pay for school increases every year. So here we have the money that students pay for school. We have a specific word for that. Do you know what it is? It's the word tuition. So again, if you use the specific vocabulary, you're going to write in a more clear and concise way. Tip number two, avoid unnecessary words. So this is something that we do a lot, native speakers do it too. Sometimes when we're speaking or writing, we just use unnecessary words. But one of the things that you should do before you turn in your writing is to check that you don't have unnecessary words and take words out where they're not needed. This especially happens for people who are learning a language because as you learn vocabulary, you want to use it. Here's an example of a sentence with unnecessary words. University students pay thousands of dollars for their classes or courses. So here we have the words classes and courses. They are the same. In this case, the student probably learned the word courses and wanted to use it. But here you should just use one of them because they have the same meaning. Here's another example. Each and every student should think about how they're going to pay for school. So each and every have the same meaning, so let's just use one. Each student should think. Tip number three, be careful with extra pronouns. This is a common mistake, but it should not be too difficult to fix. Take a look at these examples. Students who apply for financial aid, they need to wait several weeks to get the results. So here the subject of the sentence is students who apply for financial aid. Who apply for financial aid is an adjective clause that describes the students. Which students? Students who apply for financial aid. Now we already have the subject there, so we cannot use this extra pronoun they. That's an example of an unnecessary pronoun, and it's also just wrong. The pronoun they should not be there. Here's another example. My sister filled out the financial aid forms and she sent them off last week. So this is a common sentence, and it's actually correct. We have two clauses, each one with a subject and verb, and they're joined with a comma and the word and. But we don't need the second she. That would be one way that we could make the sentence shorter, because she and my sister are the same person. The sentence is not too long, so if we take out she, we still know who we are talking about. So to make the sentence a little bit shorter and more concise, we can take out she, and then we have a subject and two verbs, so we're also going to take out the comma. Tip number four, avoid unnecessary words that don't add much meaning. These words are often adverbs that we often use in speaking, but in writing we really don't need them. And they are examples of words that just distract the reader, because they're not adding a lot of meaning, and they're not necessary. So they're just making the sentence longer. These can be words like, for example, if you say this was so terrible, you don't need the word so. If you say terrible, we understand that it means it was really bad. Or for example, my mother's soup is really delicious. Well, delicious means that it tastes really good, so we don't need to say really delicious. Delicious already has that strong meaning. Here's an example sentence. Applying for financial aid is really not so difficult. Basically, you need to visit the financial aid office and complete all the forms. Here we have some unnecessary words like really, so, and basically. These are adverbs that don't help the meaning of the sentence too much, so we can take them out, or maybe we could just use one of them. Other unnecessary words can be long phrases that have the same meaning in a shorter way. So for example, if we see the sentence, due to the fact that university tuition is expensive, all students should apply for financial aid. Due to the fact that. What does that mean? Due to the fact that. It means because. So we can use just one word, because, instead of due to the fact that. If you've already used because several times in your writing, then you could change it to the word since. So the bottom line here is that when you're writing in English, especially for school or work, more is not better. You should aim to write concisely so that your writing is not too long and is clear and expresses your idea in the most exact way possible. This means that you're going to avoid redundant pairs of words like classes and courses. You're also going to avoid unnecessary long phrases, unnecessary adverbs, and unnecessary pronouns. So next time you write something, go ahead and look through your writing and see how you can make your sentences shorter and improve your choice of vocabulary so that you can express yourself as clearly as possible. And this will help your writing to be more concise. I hope you found this video helpful. Please let me know if you have questions, and I will see you soon. Take care.