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Prepositional phrases often add length to your writing without adding meaning. Consider the following:
I would like to meet with you . . . . . . on the subject of . . . . . . with reference to . . . . . . in relation to . . . . . . with regard to . . .
Replacing each of these with the single word about will save words, time, and effort.
Prepositional phrases like the ones above are often the result of writers thinking while, not before, they write. These filler phrases give writers and speakers a bit more time to think of what to say next. Unfortunately, prepositional phrases can quickly crowd out the more important words in your writing.
The solution: Establish a habit of taking time to revise your sentences, and aggressively cut unnecessary prepositional phrases.
One technique to keep you in the habit of revising: Your grammar and spell-checking software can usually be set to automatically check your document. While these programs have many limitations (most importantly, they cannot check your meaning), they can act as a reminder that you should review all your documents and can flag potential spelling, grammar, and style problems.
Here are some examples of wordy prepositional phrases and their shorter, more direct replacements:
In behalf of . . . . . . . . . . . . .For In connection with . . . . . . . About In order to . . . . . . . . . . . . . To In the matter of . . . . . . . . . .In or regarding Under the circumstances . . Because
It's easy to save you and your reader time and effort by slimming down your writing in this way. But without conscious effort, it's also easy to return to risky habits!
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