I’ve sent individual emails to each of you with your grades on the concise writing exercise. Here are some general observations.

Some of you cut too much. You were trimming complete sentences. Your edited versions also need to be complete sentences. Sentences need subjects, verbs and articles. Also, in all of your writing, whenever possible, use action verbs. When you can, avoid using “was” and “is.”

Cut unnecessary words, but be careful in deciding what is unnecessary. Specificity and concreteness are important. “All employees escaped the burning building unharmed” is far superior to “No injuries were reported.”

When trimming, be careful not to introduce inaccuracies or to alter the meaning.

One more thing: If you see links in one of my blog posts, you should click on them and read the item that I linked to. I think some of you skipped the links for this assignment. If you already know the material and don’t need to read it, that’s fine – but it’s only fine if you really do already know the material. Otherwise, you’ll make unnecessary mistakes, and it will hurt your grade.