{"id":661,"date":"2025-09-05T18:21:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T18:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policereportformula.com\/?p=661"},"modified":"2025-10-27T14:45:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T14:45:27","slug":"editing-tip-root-out-repetition-and-needless-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mablyus.com\/dev\/post\/editing-tip-root-out-repetition-and-needless-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Editing Tip: Root out repetition and needless words"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most drafts contain meandering, repetitious, and clumsy phrasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Too often, writers repeat ideas by using just slightly different words for the same thing. Politicians say they will care for \u201ceach and every\u201d voter. Business executives tell us that \u201cfirst and foremost,\u201d we have to cut costs. Advertisements offer a \u201cfree gift\u201d for opening a bank account. We also hear people talk about&nbsp;<em>future plans, end results, armed gunmen, unconfirmed rumors, living survivors, past history, actual experience, advanced planning<\/em>, and&nbsp;<em>natural instincts<\/em>. Each of those expressions repeats a simple idea. So cut \u2019em!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source: The Elements of Writing, Charles Euchner<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have read <em>The Police Report Formula<\/em> or follow my classes or website, you will know I\u2019m a proponent of writing efficiently.&nbsp; One of the ways this is achieved is by eliminating unnecessary or repetitive words. In the above paragraph, check out the phrase \u201carmed gunman\u201d\u2026. A gunman is always armed.&nbsp; Or \u201cliving survivors\u201d\u2026.survivors are living.&nbsp; By catching these types of unnecessary and repetitive phrases, your writing will become more efficient over time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most drafts contain meandering, repetitious, and clumsy phrasing. Too often, writers repeat ideas by using just slightly different words for the same thing. Politicians say they will care for \u201ceach and every\u201d voter. Business executives tell us that \u201cfirst and foremost,\u201d we have to cut costs. Advertisements offer a \u201cfree gift\u201d for opening a bank [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":73,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-tips","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Editing Tip: Root out repetition and needless words - Police Report Formula<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mablyus.com\/dev\/post\/editing-tip-root-out-repetition-and-needless-words\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Editing Tip: Root out repetition and needless words - Police Report Formula\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most drafts contain meandering, repetitious, and clumsy phrasing. Too often, writers repeat ideas by using just slightly different words for the same thing. Politicians say they will care for \u201ceach and every\u201d voter. Business executives tell us that \u201cfirst and foremost,\u201d we have to cut costs. 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