Looking for an easy way to make your essay, paper, or letter stand out from the rest? Do you need that extra push to change your grade from a B to an A? Look no further! Take 10 minutes to edit your work and read this list of 4 quick tips to polish up your writing.
1. Replace "is" and "was".
"Is" and "was" in written work often present the laziest form of writing: passives. Readers often find passives boring. To remedy this, go through and replace each passive verb with an active verb, a verb that, as its name suggests, shows action.
2. Cut fifty percent of your adverbs.
Stephen King, quite famously, once said, "I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops." More often than not, adverbs are unnecessary and add bulk to writing. Try to cut adverbs completely or replace the adverb-verb combination with a stronger verb by itself.
3. Move away from exclamation points.
Exclamation points can be fun for fifth graders to use, but in more professional writing, exclamation points can seem overemotional and unprofessional. Refrain from using these, or restrict usage to dialogue and quotations. Instead, use stronger word choice to convey emphasis or emotion.
4. Add sensory details.
An essay can be perfect and devoid of grammatical errors and slip-ups, but sensory details will add the pizazz needed to push the essay over the top. Keep sensory details simple and not too flowery. Try to focus on adding specific and intentional word choice using senses of sight, smell, and touch at the most pivotal or emotional parts of your essay.