Keep Your Writing Simple

Jeane Level 1

October 22, 2018, 8:40 am

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The fastest way to lose your reader's attention is by creating content that is either hard to understand or confusing.

Even if your target audience may understand the jargon, slang or whatever hard to understand words you use, keep in mind the fact that complex ideas are easier to understand when explained using simple words.

Here are some ways you can keep your writing simple, easy to read and understand:

1. Short sentences.
Keep your sentences under 20 words if you can. Go beyond there and comprehension begins to drop. Small percentages yeah, but going up to 10% the closer you get to 40 words a sentence.

2. Keep your paragraphs short.
Five lines or less. Huge chunks of text will "scare" your readers. Even if they don't, odds are those who skim won't even read what you've written.

3. Concise Writing
Your article should contain only the information your readers seek. Cut out unnecessary words that add no value (to your writing).

Comments

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cmoneyspinner

cmoneyspinner

1. Short sentences. RIGHT!
2. Keep your paragraphs short. RIGHT!
3. Concise Writing. RIGHT!

Not that you need my affirmation. But when I was attending university the one thing I hated the most was using a textbook for the class where the author wrote in such a complicate manner and I had to read paragraphs 3 or 4 time before finally figuring out what they were trying to say! I felt lik it was such a waste of time.

To quote Albert Einsten: “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”

I felt like the authors of the books I was required to read didn't understand the material well enough to write it in simple terms.

8 years ago

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jeffreyjose48

jeffreyjose48

I agree with you. Writing is best when its concise but to the point. Its not the quantity but the quality of writing that is important.

8 years ago

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Youngshark

Youngshark

True, quality always trumps quantity in writing and it is always important to post precise details. You should read the instructions nonetheless to avoid posting content that is too short as some clients make specifications of what they want.

8 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

I like that quote by Albert Einstein, it has a lot of sense because everything can be simplified and if a writer can't explain his thoughts in a simple fashion that means he's not that knowledgeable about the subject.

I thing that can be added to the list is...Make your choice of words simple but appealing.

8 years ago

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jeffreyjose48

jeffreyjose48

I strongly agree with you. Albert Einstein is correct. Everything needs to be concise and simple.

8 years ago

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Youngshark

Youngshark

If you use a lot of words a lot of times people will get bored reading through and simply switch off. However, with a simply written article, one will get all they need to simply and without wastage of time.

8 years ago

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jeffreyjose48

jeffreyjose48

I totally agree with you. Make sure that the readers will not be tired of reading your article. It must be heart touching.

8 years ago

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Youngshark

Youngshark

You have to select words that are easy to understand yet peculiar to the content which you create. This, in the long run, grabs the attention of the readers without them having to spend a lot of effort trying to understand. You have to make your article seem like an appetizing meal which readers cannot put away.

8 years ago

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jeffreyjose48

jeffreyjose48

I agree with you. Words to be used are easy to understand. It makes the readers wanting to read more.

8 years ago

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Youngshark

Youngshark

Yes and this makes people also want to come back more and more to see and read your content. Numerous readers will also be interested when they see the snippets of the articles on other sites as links or on social media.

8 years ago

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mark8625

mark8625

Very well said. The shorter the better. If you have a short article it means that the story itself is direct and very straight forward. That is why so many readers prefer a short story.

8 years ago

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jeffreyjose48

jeffreyjose48

I agree with you. Many readers prefer a short story. The shorter the story the better.

8 years ago

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nrnlss

nrnlss

This is such a wonderful comment. I agree on Albert Einstein's quote. It is easy to make a complicated article to confuse people but hard to write an article that's easy to understand.

8 years ago

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amelia88

amelia88

Couldn’t agree more with this. I’ve read so many pieces of work where it seems like people are just trying to sound like an expert. They use unnecessarily big words and end up making it so much more difficult for the reader to make sense of things.

I’m not saying to go and dumb everything down - but at the same time I also don’t think it’s good to go the opposite direction and make everything sound way too confusing.

8 years ago

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jaymish3

jaymish3

I agree. Sentence segmentation is very important for comprehension. You don't want your audience getting bored with your content. The best way to do this is by keeping your sentences as short as possible. If you read works by authors like Neil Patel who who is one of the biggest bloggers on SEO and affiliate marketing you will realize that most of his articles are upwards of 1000 words, however he gets almost 1 million views on his blog per month. How does he do this. Short sentences, He also has one word paragraphs.

8 years ago

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Martinsx1

Martinsx1

In as much as it's very important to keep one's writing simple, this doesn't mean that the writer shouldn't try to at least have a something meaningful written down. Let me be crystal clear, I'm not a fan of 2 to 4 lines writing all in the name of being concise with writing.

8 years ago

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mirodge

mirodge

Keep it simple.
I defenitely agree, not all readers can easily understand the deepest meaning of words written in the content. Like in the magazine some are just fun of looking for a good pictures but not reading captions.

8 years ago

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esteban123

esteban123

I agree that if we want to have more audience for our writings we should make it simple so that anybody can easily understand it without thinking too much on some slang words that we usually find to some articles. As much as possible we should make our writing short and direct to the point so that readers would not be bored from reading them, because sometimes it is one reason why other people are not anymore interested in reading our writings.

8 years ago

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jeffreyjose48

jeffreyjose48

I definitely agree with you. We should avoid slang words. As much as possible writings must be short yet direct to the point.

8 years ago

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theresajane

theresajane

We are always reminded that we have to keep our writing short. But, sometimes we are blinded by too much overwhelming feeling of writing. I am also guilty of lengthening my paraghraphs and making my lines long. However, I am thankful that I have my friends or people around me who can give me constructive criticisms. Also, I am now observing the same points that you have given.

8 years ago

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jeffreyjose48

jeffreyjose48

I strongly agree with you. We must keep our writing short. Its also good to listen to constructive criticisms.

8 years ago

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stbrians

stbrians

I concur with you on this one. Being simple and straight to the point will become the best way to communicate your ideas to the target audience. Jargon may show your mastery but will put off the would be readers. The content will be boring too. There is much riches in simplicity.

8 years ago

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Barida

Barida

I have always loved reading contents that are written in simple and unique languages. Unless you are making some academic contents, there is no need to make contents that are filled with big words and jargons.

8 years ago

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emiaj55

emiaj55

This takes me back to my grade school days. We were picked to join a journalism conference for school papers. We were taught how to write news, which should be concise and straight to presenting facts. Then back at school we were asked by the teachers to write an essay not less than four paragraphs! And about a poet by the sea, no less! Needless to say we were scourging for words since we have covered almost every interesting thing about him in the first two. It was really epic.

8 years ago

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thejoyrevolutio

thejoyrevolutio

I agree. People tend to stay away from very long articles. They tend to bore out readers. For short articles the sentences should be direct to the point. Keep the information concise like you said. Be short and informative that should be the core of your article.

8 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

My weakness in writing is my small English vocabulary that I often use simple terms and phrases. For a literary writer, I don't think I would be fit because most of the literary stories I had read have used big words and complicated phrases. But in writing an article, one writer said that I write good because I use simple words and phrases that my writing is easy to understand. Take note, he said, that you are writing for a reader who is trying to understand the information you are sharing. When your have simple words in your write up then your reader will be at ease since there is no need for a dictionary.

8 years ago

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nrnlss

nrnlss

I agree with you, the simpler the better. Sometimes writer are wants to impress their readers too much to the point that they'll use deep words in their article even though it is not necessary. For me, as a reader I prefer those writers who use common words so that it is easy to understand.

8 years ago

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rlpzbeermoney

rlpzbeermoney

Sometimes a personal problem of mine is having a sentence too long like this one. I'd have one sentence go on for like 3 lines in a word document and it's a problem in my schooling days as well. When the teacher requires that you have to provide at least 3 sentences, I sacrifice the quality of my work to break it down into 3.

8 years ago

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jayjaydimson

jayjaydimson

Keep your writing simple, in this way you can attract a lot of readers because they can understand the content of it because it's just a simple writing.

8 years ago

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jaybee19

jaybee19

A big check to all the things you've mentioned. My professor always emphasize about the things you've listed every time I and my classmates need to make an essay or when talking in front for oral recitations. I do have a classmate who does the things you've listed to be prohibited and believe me my classmates always exclaim whenever he does that because he uses words that are too complex and sometimes make his compositions longer without realizing he's just orbiting on the same thought.

8 years ago

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jpk0007

jpk0007

Yes keeping it simple and easy to understand is very necessary to attract more readers to our blog or website. There is no logic in making things complicated and difficult to understand just in order to appear more sophisticated or articulate. If people are ultimately going to get a bad headache after reading your article then what is the use of writing such long boring articles with complicated words. A writer must be able to easily communicate his views to his readers. Readers will always prefer to read something which is easy to read and understand.

8 years ago

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MomoStarr16

MomoStarr16

Good advise you got there. But for me that will be for the old time writers or what we called the professional. It may looks simple but it is hard for beginners. Making your story short is a great danger. You might cut some important topic or you might lack of telling the fact about the stories. This is just my point but that is a good advise. You are right about the reason why readers got bored.

8 years ago

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amelia88

amelia88

This thread has made me rethink a bit more. I always find that reading my work out loud helps a lot in avoiding things like sentences being too long. It’s one of those things where it can really appear evident what sounds bad if you’re reading it aloud rather than just on a page or screen.

8 years ago

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jayjaydimson

jayjaydimson

Keep it simple, because simplicity is beauty, and I agree with that. Because if your article is simple, you will get a lot of readers from that article.

8 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

Using simple words and writing short and easily understood sentences is a good practice which more writers should take into heart. Most readers don't like to read complex and hard to read / understand compositions. What readers like to read are content which are easily comprehended, something that their minds can assimilate in one reading.

8 years ago

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jaymish3

jaymish3

I agree@Kakashi2020. I took a writing class about 10 years ago. The first thing the teacher told us that the way to write in the modern world is to keep it simple. Don't use complicated words. This is the old way of writing. This was meant to make you look intelligent. However people want to understand what you are saying, and not to see how intelligent you are. Even judgments are written in simple English, these days.

8 years ago

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ElectorAlexande

ElectorAlexande

This writer gave a very nice write up on the topic and also this post answered the question that i posted in the past thread, keeping the write-up simple is the best way to keep your readers glue to your content and not a long and boring write up.

8 years ago

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esteban123

esteban123

Simplicity is beauty that is why we should make it as our priority when writing some articles so that it would look more impressive and attractive to the viewers. Having simple words makes people less bored when reading and it can help them to easily understand what they are reading which is really good to have.

8 years ago

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iambeth

iambeth

Simple words do go a long way. You can reach a broader audience because more people can understand what you're trying to say. To be more effective in communicating to the general public, it would be better to use words that they recognize and can relate to.

8 years ago

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Jstreeter26

Jstreeter26

I completely agree with this sentiment. Straight and to the point is sometimes the best way to structure your writing. It is a good way to make sure people will actually read your writing rather than skipping over stuff.

8 years ago

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mitan143

mitan143

Yes, I strongly agree with you. A simple article is good, as long as it is in formal way. I don't usually care about how smart the writer in his use of words as long as he successfully conveys his message in the easiest way that the readers could understand. The context and the content is more important and I'd prefer simple writing style for it as well.

8 years ago

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cks003

cks003

One is considered skilful writer when he can summarise a complex scenario or explanation to a simple and easy to understand essay or article. To achieve that, one needs to use simple language and avoid using jargons and technical terms which are only understood by the experts in the field. One has to bear in mind that before writing, he has to assume that all readers have minimum knowledge about the topic and they need to be told and explained.

8 years ago

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DISTEFANO115

DISTEFANO115

Simple writing is what I also prefer, it is short and concise. It doesn't take time to understand the content, unlike those paragraphs that include lots of information that is unnecessary.

8 years ago

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stormbreaker10

stormbreaker10

I agree to this topic. Im one of the readers being scared of the long text or textbooks, it is like seeing a poop in the bowl on public toilet "that expression thou"

8 years ago

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jaymish3

jaymish3

I think that simple writing is the trend. No one has the time to read long complicated texts. Complicated writing was a sign that someone was intelligent or wrote well. However this is not the case anymore. The world is not putting emphasis on comprehension for the general population rather than showing off writing skills. With the spread of the internet anyone can write well. Good writing is no longer an issue, but good content that is relevant and understandable is the issue and the trend.This is now referred to as modern writing.

8 years ago

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hstinscdln

hstinscdln

I agree with this. I am a person whose straight to the point wants to go find the information I need as fast as I can. With that said, also write essays, articles, etc that are short and direct to the point, I'm not a fan of writings that contains too much information which aren't too relevant or related to the main topic. I don't include fillers to my writings and some may not enjoy my works as much as other people's writing. I have a friend who makes longer works than mine but some people enjoy hers more than mine. Despite of that, our instructor seems to enjoy my works more than hers.

8 years ago

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cks003

cks003

When writing an article, the flow of the story is very important to ensure clarity. Maintaining the flow requires simple and easy to understand sentences so readers can follow the story from the beginning until the end. If the readers do not understand or struggle to understand from the beginning, they will lose interest and not finish the article. Therefore, simple and straight to the point are important concerns when writing an article.

8 years ago

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HappyLady

HappyLady

I would add one bit of advice given to me years ago. "Murder your darlings." If you are really attatched to it and think it is brilliant, it probably is the one bit that needs to go. Also, don't change style mid-story.
It is surpriing how many do. Of course you can change things to suit the character or the chapter, but the book needs a feel about it that is built up over time.

8 years ago

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katarinamurtin

katarinamurtin

I had a lot of experience with school books that were not written simply. Trust me simplicity is very important. Want an advice?
1. Write short sentences
2. Don't ALWAYS use big words (of course you should use them, but not ALL THE TIME)
3. Don't skip from one subject to another, it's confusing and people usually hate confusing.

8 years ago

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Judas2018

Judas2018

Simple varies for certain audiences. For me - you should target your writing towards the audience the piece is for. If the audience likes sophisticated writing, you can be sophisticated but not 'too' much. If the target audience prefers simple or basic, then aim for that instead.

8 years ago

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burgosmichael24

burgosmichael24

I remember my professor in college that always remind us to keep it brief and concise. Let us not forget that our purpose in writing is to make the reader understand them and not to impress them with our skills in writing long sentences. Long sentences will kill their interest to read it and makes them hard to understand.

8 years ago

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jessie271

jessie271

Keep your writing simple but yet creative. Make it neither short nor long but just enough length. Make sure that when the reader reads your content, he or she will not get bored but rather will be lured to read your content until the end. It must have a creative touch in it. As to what kind of creativity, it depends on what is the subject. You can put some funny lines if it's applicable.

8 years ago

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