Change Negatives to Affirmatives
Rewrite this sentence in an affirmative form:
Do not write in the negative.
Write in the affirmative.
What is metadiscourse?
Language that marks the direction and purpose of a text
Identify the hedge in this sentence:
It is possible that we might need to reconsider our approach.
"Possible" and "might" are hedges
Make this sentence more concise:
A terrible tragedy occurred last night.
A tragedy occurred last night.
True or False: "Very unique" is a proper phrase.
False ("Unique" doesn’t need "very").
Which sentence is more concise?
A) The proposal was not accepted by the committee.
B) The committee rejected the proposal.
B (The committee rejected the proposal.)
Remove redundancy in this sentence:
The final outcome of the experiment was unexpected.
The outcome of the experiment was unexpected.
Which sentence is more concise? Explain why.
A) This is absolutely the most important issue ever.
B) This is the most important issue.
B (Removes unnecessary intensifiers).
Remove redundancy from this sentence:
We hope and trust that you will enjoy the event.
We hope you will enjoy the event.
True or False: "Not different" means the same as "similar."
True
Rewrite this sentence in a positive form:
It’s not impossible to predict engineering malfunctions in nuclear energy systems.
Engineering malfunctions in nuclear energy systems can be predicted
What words in this sentence make it unnecessarily wordy?
The reason why we canceled the event was because of the bad weather
"The reason why" → "The reason", and "was because of" → "was due to" or "was caused by".
Simplify this sentence by removing unnecessary hedges:
There might be some evidence to suggest that this could possibly be a problem in some cases.
Evidence suggests this is sometimes a problem.
Rewrite this sentence in active voice:
The decision was made by the committee
The committee made the decision.
True or False: "Past history" is a necessary phrase.
False ("History" already implies the past)
Rewrite this sentence in a more direct and affirmative way:
Except when expenses do not exceed $250, the insured may not refuse to provide receipts.
The insured must provide receipts for expenses over $250.
Identify the redundant words in this sentence and rewrite it:
I believe that, in my opinion, we should perhaps consider the possibility of changing the rule.
"I believe that," "in my opinion," "perhaps," and "consider the possibility" are redundant words.
Sentence: We should consider changing the rule.
Why does this sentence sound overly assertive?
Everyone knows that this is clearly the best approach.
Using "everyone knows" and "clearly" assumes universal agreement, which may not be true.
Rewrite this wordy sentence:
The fact that he was late to work every day led to the decision to fire him.
His constant lateness led to his firing.
True or False: "Each and every" is more powerful than "each."
False (It’s redundant).
Identify the unnecessary negatives in this sentence and rewrite it concisely:
We cannot overlook the fact that the policy does not include key details.
The policy lacks key details.
Rewrite this sentence to remove redundant metadiscourse:
In regard to the situation concerning the budget, it is clear that financial reductions must be considered.
We must consider budget cuts.
Rewrite this sentence for better balance:
It is quite obvious that most people will absolutely agree with this statement without any doubt.
Most people will likely agree with this statement.
Simplify this sentence by removing unnecessary words:
It is important to note that, as has been previously mentioned, we should now begin to analyze the data.
We should now analyze the data.
True or False: "The reason why" is incorrect.
True ("The reason" is enough).