Short and

We'll dispense with the end of the cliche. We're all about verbal economizing.

Today, we introduced our students to the concept of concision. Take this sentence, for example:

In my personal opinion, I think that it is necessary that we not ignore the opportunity to think over in a careful manner each and every suggestion that is offered to us.

Now, many students--especially students of basic writing--would pat themselves on the back upon composing such a grammatically perfect and sophisticated sounding sentence. But what you have there is a five-word sentence hiding in a 32-word fatsuit.

The sentence comes from Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams, and it exemplifies the breakage of virtually all of Williams' rules for concise writing:

--Don't modify words with words or phrases that are understood through the definition of the modified word. Sounds confusing, we know, but easily illustrated: "Opinions" can only be personal, so the word "personal" adds nothing. All suggestions are "offered": An unoffered suggestion is merely a thought, so we can eliminate "that is offered to us."

--Avoid metadiscourse, i.e., "writing about writing." That allows us to get rid of "In my opinion" and "I think."

--A word for a phrase. "It is necessary that we" means "We should" or "We must." To "think over" is to "consider."

--Not the negative. When you "don't ignore" an opportunity, you take an opportunity. For that matter, when you take an opportunity to do something, you simply, y'know, do it.

--Avoid meaningless modifiers--which, in expository non-fiction prose is almost all modifiers. In the example above, "in a careful manner" is meaningless, not because consideration is by nature "careful," but because we can assume the way in which we should consider the suggestions should be careful. We wouldn't advocate incautious consideration; thus, there is no reason to advise against it. If anything, that could jinx it!

--Avoid doubling. English has several "doubled" expressions: each and every, full and complete, safe and secure, etc. This is all thanks to those pesky French. When they conquered England in 1066, they brought their language with them. As a result, it became tres fashionable to speak the language, so people started tacking Francophone companions onto good ol' Germanic vocabulary. And that, boys and girls, is how "each" got its "every."

So what are we left with?

We must consider each suggestion.

Concise writing is important not just because it keeps you from irritating your reader with a bunch of irrelevant words. It helps the novice writer avoid mistakes: The fewer words you use, the fewer are your opportunities to screw up. Quite simply, the more you have to say, the fewer words you should take to say it.