Grammar Girl here, today, Julie Wilde Heybrue, who trains riders and editors at Yahoo, will

explain a few strategies for keeping copy compact and for getting rid of deadwood, words

and phrases that add length but not value.

Good writing is clearing concise and gets to the point.

Readers don't want to rummage through a messy verbal flea market to discover one or two

sparkly gems of information.

To help readers find your treasures, front load, organize and cut.

First front load your copy, put the most important information where eyes will spot it immediately

in headlines, first paragraphs and email subject lines.

Second, organize to help readers who scam, create subheadings, limit paragraphs to a few

sentences and break information into lists.

Third, call anything that isn't pulling its weight, start with deadwood, useless verbal

underbrush that clutters your copy and may be hazardous to your meaning.

Perhaps you've listened to someone who inserts like or you know in every sentence.

That habit is annoying but understandable in conversation.

But imagine reading copy peppered with like and you know.

You may conclude the writers a few clowns short of a carload, so to keep your readers

good opinion which deadwood phrases should you cut.

First look for single word modifiers that don't enhance your meaning, such as very, really,

totally, quite, actually, already, fairly and much.

You may have seen ads touting a very unique product that's really special and comes with

an added bonus though it may be currently unavailable.

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