Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subject only in outline, but that every word tell.
William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White.
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Original Citation
Strunk, William, Jr. The Elements of Style. Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1920, ch. 2, sec. 13.
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Current Citation
Strunk, William, Jr. and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. Penguin Books, 2007, ch. 2, sec. 13.
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