#8 - MHH Ch. 30

Instead of writing about MLA in-text citations and works cited (MHH 21/22), I wanted to touch on avoiding wordiness and redundancies.

In my writing, I have an issue with being redundant and saying the same thing. I understood that I was, but I never really new how to correct it or pick it out of my papers.

In chapter 30 of the MHH, there's a chart that lists common wordy phrases and their concise alternatives.

example: due to the fact that = because

in the event that = if

in order to = to

is necessary that = must

Also, they give great questions to ask yourself to figure out if your sentence is wordy.

"1. Do any sentences contain wordy or empty phrases such as at this point in time? Do any contain redundancies or other unnecessary repetitions? 2. Can any clauses be reduced to phrases, or phrases to single words? Can any sentences be combined to reduce repetitive information? 3. Do any sentences include there is, or there are, or it is expressions; weak verbs; or nouns derived from verbs?"

These questions are great for writers to think about when they go back to edit and revise. You might not be able to catch every redundancy in your writing, but your paper might be more clear once you check for wordy sentences.