Writing Grit: Put Your Fat Words on a Diet

One of the few facts I remember from my high school history class is that former Canadian prime minster R.B. Bennett actively tried to gain weight because he believed that larger people appeared more important. When it comes to writing, many people seem to share this idea, heavily peppering their text with lengthy words to make their writing sound more important.

Now, I love big, beautiful words. And I think that all writers should sprinkle them into their work, as long as they are confident their readers will understand the word or be able to figure out their meaning based on the surrounding text. However, some words aren't really big. Nor are they beautiful.

They're bloated. They're carrying unnecessary weight that makes them less agile and effective, thus damaging your message. And nobody wants that.

So here are some tricks you can use to identify fat words and get them back into shape.

Courtesy of GraphicStock.com

What makes a word fat?

How do you tell the difference between a word that simply big and a word that is bloated? You look for the root.

I learned this at an editing course taught by Jim Taylor several years ago. In his accompanying materials, Taylor wrote, "Most words start simple. But many writers think that complex thoughts cannot be expressed in simple words. So they inflate their words."

And they do this by adding prefixes and suffixes.

Prefixes are placed at the start of a word and are used to change it's meaning. For example: a-, anti-, com-, contra-, de-, dis-, en-, ex- .

Suffixes appear at the end of a word and change how it is used in a sentence. For example: -ize, -ist, -ism, -ation.

Shrinking fat words

In many cases, prefixes and suffixes are necessary. For example, a theist and an atheist are not the same thing -- that little a- is a vital distinction. Similarly, suffixes are often necessary to change nouns (like priority) to verbs (like prioritize) so that they can play a much different role in your sentence.

But adding too many prefixes and suffixes to a word, or adding unnecessary ones, can make your sentences difficult to read and understand. In these situations, its best to identify the root of the word and rewrite your sentence around that.

• Prioritization becomes priority
• Operationalize becomes operate
• Notification becomes notify

If you want, once you've found the root, you can take it a step further and choose a simpler alternative.

• Implementation becomes implement, and then do
• Utilization becomes utilize, and then use

And lengthy, obscure sentences change from this:

• The utilization and management of effective services is dependant upon the appropriate prioritization of budgetary factors.

To this:

• Our ability to use and manage effective services depends on our budget priorities.

What bloated words do you come across or use when writing, and how would you change them?

If you enjoyed this post, resteem, upvote and follow @redhens, and check out some of my other posts on writing:

• Writing Grit: Types of Editing
• RedHens Writing Advice: Telling Your Story
• Writing Grit: The Five-Minute Edit
• Writing Grit: Passive vs. Active Voice

Or take a look at my Canada 150 series:

• 150 Reasons Canada Rocks Pt. 3: Food & Drink
• 150 Reasons Canada Rocks Pt. 2: Health
• 150 Reasons Canada Rocks Pt. 1: Sports