Say it in fewer words

Cut what does not help, and choose plain, exact words. Lesson 32 of 70: Articulation, every level.

Cut what does not help

• Articulate speakers are not the ones with the most words; they are the ones whose every word is doing a job. Cut the warm-up (“So what I wanted to say was that…”), the repetition (“the final outcome at the end”), and the padding (“in order to”, “at this point in time”, “due to the fact that”).
• We need to decide today. (Not “What I wanted to say is that at this point in time we need to make a decision”)
• because (Not “due to the fact that”)
• now (Not “at this point in time”)

Plain, exact words

• Choose the plain word over the impressive one (“use”, not “utilise”; “help”, not “facilitate”), and the exact word over the vague one (“twelve customers”, not “a number of customers”; “late by two days”, not “a bit delayed”). One idea per sentence. If a sentence needs a breath in the middle, it is probably two sentences.
• Twelve customers asked for this. (Exact)
• The parcel is two days late. (Exact)
• Tip: Before a meeting, write your main point in twelve words or fewer. If you cannot, you are not ready to say it clearly.

Lines to have ready

• In short,… (Before the shortest version)
• The point is this: (Getting to it)
• To put it simply,… (A plainer version)
• Here’s the one-line version. (Summarising)

Your turn to speak

• Explain your job, or a project, three times: in two minutes, in thirty seconds, then in one sentence. Record the thirty-second and one-sentence versions.
• My thirty-second version kept only what mattered
• My one-sentence version was under twenty words
• I used plain, exact words

Related

• Lesson 31: Clean starts and finishes
• Lesson 33: Point first, then the reasons
• The whole English course

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