Each of the wordy phrases below can be replaced by one word. How fast can you edit them?
Note: For some phrases such as “during the course of,” you may need to imagine a sentence to help you recognize a one-word version.
- in a consistent manner
- most of the time
- on a frequent basis
- subsequent to
- prior to that time
- a greater number of
- in a timely fashion
- is of the opinion that
- consensus of opinion
- sum total
- is in a position to
- exactly identical
- refer back
- is in the process of
- may possibly
- during the course of
- due to the fact that
- at the present time
- just recently
- during the time that
Could you quickly replace the wordy phrases? Did any of them stump you?
Recently a middle-school boy got lots of media attention when his science fair project won first place: He recommended that the U.S. government change to the Garamond font to save money by using less ink. His theory was debunked because of issues of font thickness. However, perhaps his next project can demonstrate how the government can save ink by using fewer words. We plain language advocates will certainly support him!
Lynn