How can you teach students to write concise sentences?

Short and sweet - that's the power of concise sentences. In a world flooded with information, being brief is a superpower. It keeps your readers hooked, delivers your message crystal clear, and shows you know your stuff. Say more with less! ????

It is utmost important to highlight and specify important scientific keywords in science, hence pointing and revising them well during lecture delivery helps students to write concise to-the-point answers in science.

Avoid pronous, especially it, this, these, those, and others like it. Also, avoid conjunctions - rather write a short concise sentence than using conjunctions and pronouns and in so doing you confuse the reader. Work hard when you write so that the reader does not have to work hard.

I agree that teaching students to write concise sentences is an important skill that can improve their clarity and coherence. However, I also think that there are situations where longer or more complex sentences are appropriate and effective, such as when creating suspense, contrast, or emphasis. Therefore, I would suggest that teachers balance the instruction of concise sentences with the instruction of other sentence structures and types, such as compound, complex, or conditional sentences. This way, students can learn to vary their sentence length and complexity according to their purpose and audience.

Make your students aware of sentence structure i.e., making use of subject and verb only in a sentence and refraining from using noun clusters and nominalizations ( removing verbs converted to nouns from your sentence). For e.g., use determine instead of determination , use judge instead of judgement etc. Presence of nominalized words makes a sentence redundant and the sentence may lose clarity making it difficult to comprehend. Also, reduce phrases to single word :for e.g., phrase "due to the fact" can be replaced by "because" making sentence less redundant with fewer words.

Write the first draft for meaning, and the second for clarity and concision. Allow students to write without worrying about brevity and then rework each part of the sentence until you use the least number of words with the most active voice. AI can also help: run the sentence through Claude: asking it to make the writing stronger and more concise. Then compare sentences.

Students can learn to break down their thoughts into "chunks" or key ideas. Each sentence should focus on one key idea, and any unnecessary additional information can be discarded or placed elsewhere. Decomposition helps students get to the essence of their thought.

It happens when the reading feels redundant and vague. Paradoxically, clear writing looks so simple. But non-writers sometimes doesn't understand that simplicity is the results of experience and expertise.

Words are symbols, not the thing itself. So in conveying ideas or information to others through the written or the spoken word, you have to bear in mind who will be your audience, since their background will greatly influence the way they interpret your words. There's universal writing (for anyone, in theory at least...) and writing for a specific audience. Bear this in mind before beginning your drafts and above all, refine your discernment and only convey worthy concepts to others. Faced with an assignment to promote dubious notions, it's better to opt out, for in the long run, we are all accountable for what we create or support.

Wordiness is not necessarily wrong, just as brevity isn't necessarily a virtue. Be aware that this is a trending global notion that is intended to reach a point where vocabularies (=thinking) will be reduced and AI will patrol your 'political correctness' and similar rubbish in every walk of life. One must be always free to think and communicate what needs to be said in the manner one sees fit, whether in a concise or wordy approach, according to the subject's needs for a thorough and clear understanding. If you already have your clear thinking well developed, then your communication will flow from this, no need to study techniques and follow trends. Avoid then to contribute to this type of trend while oblivious to its ultimate goals.

Stick to Ernest Hemingway: "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative."

Writing practice and feedback are key! It does depend on the reason for writing. Writing your title first ensures you have a reason to write. A way to ensure the beginning is consistent with the end. As a pharmacy educator grading various pharmacy SOAP notes I see with each note an improvement when timely (day of or overnight) feedback is given between notes. In classroom exercises correcting notes using pair share with presentation for discussion or using team based learning assist with the critical thinking and clinical reasoning part of what and how to write. You know when the "note" is clear, complete and concise when by the time you get to your end/recommendation it will flow and recommendation is supported.

My top 2 ways to eliminate wordiness is: 1. Use active voice. It's shorter than passive voice. "I was being understood." --> "They understand me." 2. Limits the usage of 'very'. Use advanced words. "The way he speaks is very captivating." --> "The way he speaks is fascinating."

Encouraging and helping students in building their vocabulary is important. This gives them a precise word rather than explaining a phenomenon.

I will just add to what my professional colleagues have already said so well here, with another perspective that's often overlooked by students and teachers alike, albeit being the essence of it all: Don't just hone your writing skills with proven techniques and so on to exhibit writing prowess. Always perceive what you are contributing to with such skills. Skills and results are not the goal, the process is. How you weave your communication and with what level of integrity and intention is everything, really. The rest are just consequences.

Here's my way. Use word count. For example, analyze how many word you usually write. For example in 600-700 words. For the next time you write, please slowly limit yourself. Try 550 words. After you getting used to it, try 500 words, and so on until you reach desired count. Conciseness matters, but you have to train for it. You cannot achieve being concise without training it.

Utilizing the 'Think-Puzzle-Explore' thinking routine can be very helpful. This routine encourages students to delve deeply into a topic, identify questions or puzzles they have, and think more about the topic. Although it doesn't directly target concise structure, it aids students in organizing their thoughts and expressing them more concisely when writing about the subject.

Teaching students to write concise sentences is an important skill. Here are some strategies you can use as a Stage 3 teacher: 1. Modeling: Provide clear examples of concise and expanded sentences. Show them the difference and explain why concise sentences are effective. 2. Eliminate Redundancy: Encourage students to remove unnecessary words or phrases that repeat information. Emphasize the importance of getting to the point. 3. Focus on Main Ideas: Teach students to identify the main idea of a sentence and eliminate any details that don't directly support it. Remember to be patient and provide constructive feedback. With practice and guidance, students can develop the skill of writing concise sentences.

In science the passive voice is frequently used. E.g the test tubes were placed in an incubator. If anything the passive voice helps keep sentence shorter. The length of the sentence and the use or avoiding of modifiers depends on the reason for the text. E.g We teach children to use description and similes for story telling to set the stage and creat a particular atmosphere . However conversely we would teach them to be concise and factual with few descriptive words when writing a report.They need to learn both approaches at various times depending on the purpose of the written medium .

A common vice in today's world is the impure reinterpretation of what we read or hear. What we write comes from memory, the accumulation of all that we've read or heard in life. When we summon this memory to write our own stuff, we often do so distorting the original source in some way that suits our own vision of life and personal preferences. Even so-called 'creative writing' comes from memory, from what you've stored there mostly using your own unconscious filters. One good exercise to bring this to the forefront or conscious level, is to ask students to rewrite or reword famous quotes. In doing this, they will see which can be improved for clarity and which are so perfect that any rewording will spoil its conciseness and true meaning.

for one to be able to teach their students how to write concise sentences the teacher must have mastered the art of writing it too, because it is very difficult to instill what you don't have on others.

Wow what a claim . We see short sentences frequently on IT platforms. I have observed they are often badly written because they are so concise they can be ambiguous . I am not convinced by these claims!

Students should be taught to write sentences 1 with Subject 2Verb 3object using present tense. Once they master that pronouns can be introduced and auxiliary verbs

True communication is about conveying to the world truthful and useful notions in a variety of ways in both language and artforms. Brevity, conciseness, etc., come later, once the original ideas have been checked for nonsense, inverted ideas and rubbish political correctness. Sadly, loads of these are in demand in today's world to meet an agenda, to the consternation and concern of serious-minded communicators that truly want to help. When so-called 'collaborative' projects come up, if all participants have not given themselves this kind of education first, and are thus not on the same wavelength, so to speak, the result will be hopelessly contaminated and sabotaged as we often see in the world. Refine your perceptions of what's going on.

To ensure a more natural fluency and clarity in writing, it must also be read aloud. When I ask a student how they could improve a sentence, they are often at a loss, but if I ask them to read it aloud, they can identify the problem immediately.

I teach Masters Nurse Practitioner students who have grown up texting and emailing without punctuation or proper sentence structure. It is frustrating to realize we have a generation who cannot write. I make them write their journals in word first, have Grammarly check it, then cut and paste. I’m not an English teacher but I feel they have to be able to write reports and letters to other professionals. If I am not able to read their papers, I send them back.

I’m not sure mindfulness was mentioned so far. When we talk about mindfulness in writing, it's about helping students become more thoughtful and deliberate in their process. One thing we encourage is for them to pause after writing each sentence and ask themselves questions like, "Does this sentence say exactly what I mean?" or "Is there a simpler, clearer way to express this?" This practice helps them focus on being precise with their words. Writing concisely requires a lot of mental clarity, and by encouraging mindfulness, we're teaching students to be more intentional and careful in how they express their ideas. :) I loved teaching 2nd graders during creative writing class. Kinda miss it now.

If you're looking for resources to share with students about writing concise sentences, check out writing centers' websites. They often share handouts they use with their own students online, which you can then link to in your classes. I highly recommend resources from the University of North Carolina Writing Center.

Be Concise: Get to the point directly without unnecessary elaboration. Avoid Redundancy: Remove repeated information or ideas expressed in different ways. Use Active Voice: Passive voice often leads to longer sentences. Opt for active voice for clarity and brevity. Cut Filler Words: Remove words like "very," "really," and "quite" that don't add substantial meaning. Eliminate Unnecessary Phrases: Identify phrases that can be condensed without losing the intended message. Break Long Sentences: If a sentence conveys multiple ideas, consider breaking it into shorter sentences for clarity.

Here's an existential approach for you on the theme of communicating through language: Even the WHO has foreseen a next 'pandemic' of serious mental health issues and rocketing suicides across the world. It's easy to see that the vast resources of the written word in literature and overall modern communication models have not and are not improving things fast enough. We already have too much to read and this is one cause. That said, we do not need just more words, but just to see the good ones we have properly, without distortions or nonsense. Keep this in mind and decide whether we need more 'concise writing skills and AI', or if we need to learn how to use what we already have, first. It's about 'inner' before 'outer'.