Most drafts can lose 10 to 30 percent of their word count without losing what matters. Cutting filler words, tightening sentences, removing redundancy, and replacing weak verb phrases with strong verbs typically trims a draft by a third while making it sharper. Below are the 11 techniques that do most of the work.
1. Search and delete filler words
Specific words to find and remove (most instances): "just", "really", "very", "actually", "basically", "literally", "essentially", "totally", "completely", "absolutely", "kind of", "sort of", "in order to" (replace with "to"), "due to the fact that" (replace with "because"), "at this point in time" (replace with "now").
Example before: "It is really important to actually understand what the customer basically wants." After: "Understand what the customer wants." Reduced from 14 words to 6, no information lost.
2. Replace weak verbs with strong verbs
"X has the ability to do Y" → "X can do Y". "Made the decision to" → "decided". "Provided a contribution to" → "contributed". "Came to the realization that" → "realized". "Engaged in a discussion about" → "discussed". Strong verbs carry their own meaning; weak verbs need help from nouns and adverbs.
3. Cut throat-clearing phrases
Phrases that delay the point: "It is important to note that", "It should be mentioned that", "What is interesting is", "The fact of the matter is", "Needless to say". Delete them and start with the actual content. Your reader does not need a runway before each idea.
4. Eliminate restatements
First drafts often state an idea, then restate it slightly differently in the next sentence as the writer thinks through it. In the edit, keep the clearest version and delete the rest. Read each pair of consecutive sentences asking "are these saying the same thing?"
5. Tighten relative clauses
"The student who is in the third row" → "the third-row student" or just "the student". "The decision that was made by the board" → "the board's decision". "Which" and "that" clauses often hide simpler structures. Restructure to put the modifier as an adjective when possible.
6. Combine redundant pairs
"Each and every" → "every". "First and foremost" → "first". "Any and all" → "all". "Various different" → "various" or "different". "Free gift" → "gift". "Past history" → "history". "Final outcome" → "outcome". "Future plans" → "plans". These doubled phrases are everywhere in corporate and academic writing and they almost never add information.
7. Convert passive to active
Passive voice usually takes more words and obscures who is doing what. "The decision was made by the committee" (8 words) → "The committee decided" (3 words). "Mistakes were made" (3 words) hides the actor entirely. "The team made mistakes" (4 words) is honest and clear. Use passive only when the actor is genuinely unknown or unimportant.
8. Remove unnecessary adverbs
Adverbs ending in -ly often signal a weak verb. "Walked slowly" → "ambled" or "strolled". "Ran quickly" → "sprinted" or "dashed". "Spoke loudly" → "yelled" or "shouted". Strong verbs do the work of weak verbs plus their adverb modifiers. Not every adverb needs cutting; just the ones propping up weak verbs.
9. Replace vague adjectives with specifics
"A really big number" → "47 thousand" (or whatever the number is). "Very good performance" → "a 12 percent improvement" (or the actual measurement). Specificity tightens writing and increases credibility. If you can replace a vague adjective with a number, do.
10. Cut hedging
"It seems like maybe we could potentially explore the possibility of" → "We could explore". Hedging language ("seems", "maybe", "potentially", "possibly", "I think", "in my opinion") softens claims but bloats writing. Hedge only where you genuinely have uncertainty; remove hedges from claims you are confident about.
11. Break compound sentences
A sentence with three or more clauses connected by "and", "but", "because", "however", "although" can usually be two shorter sentences. Two clear sentences beat one tangled one almost every time. Read your draft aloud; sentences that make you run out of breath are the candidates to split.
The 30-percent rule
For most first drafts, applying these 11 techniques cuts 20-30 percent of length and improves clarity. Set a target reduction (say, "cut this 1,200-word piece to 900") and use our word counter to track progress. The first 10 percent is easy; the next 10 percent takes effort; the last 10 percent forces you to ask hard questions about what the piece is actually trying to say.