Editing for style means examining your document at the sentence level to ensure that your prose is clear and efficient. When editing for style:
- Create a readable style by putting the topic of the sentence first, avoiding nominalizations, and eliminating long information strings.
- Establish narrative structure in your sentences by using the beginning of each sentence to establish focus (whose story it is) and the end of the sentence to emphasize new information (the plot).
- Avoid agentless prose by including agents before the main verb and using active voice where possible.
- Use specialized vocabularies cautiously to prevent alienation of your readers.
- Avoid sexist language by using gender-neutral terms and titles without gender markings, and by using the plural to avoid the singular third person.
- Use an appropriate tone and level of formality for your audience; pay special attention to your use of labels for groups of people, contractions, jargon, and colloquial language.
- Control wordiness by using large words sparingly, eliminating unnecessary and inefficient phrases, and eliminating vague or meaningless qualifiers.
- Write smooth transitions between sentences explicitly, using words like "however," "therefore," and "also."
- Write smooth transitions implicitly by making a connection in meaning between one sentence and another, or by beginning sentences with information the readers already know and ending with new information.
- Control the pace of documents by varying the length of sentences and the beginnings of sentences.
- Consider the ethics of your stylistic choices and avoid unethical language, particularly when writing marketing materials.
If you are writing and editing a document intended for readers in other cultures, be aware that different languages have different word orders and reader expectations. Try to write as simply and directly as possible.
