If you’ve ever had to write a paper or report, chances are good that you have been told at some point that rewriting is an essential part of the writing process. But rewriting can be a daunting task: how do you make sure your sentences still convey the same meaning as before? In this article, we’ll explore the rules and techniques of rewriting so you can learn how to rewrite sentences in a way that will make them clearer and more concise.
The rules of rewriting.
Rewriting is a process that involves changing the words in a sentence to make it more effective. It is different from proofreading, which involves checking for errors in grammar and spelling.
Rewriting improves the quality of writing while conserving its meaning. Here are some rules you can use when rewriting sentences:
- Use fewer words than your original sentence if possible; try to keep each sentence below 25 words or so.
- Delete unnecessary terms like “that,” “very,” “quite,” etc., which just add clutter and don’t contribute anything new to your message. If you need these phrases for clarity, use them sparingly–once or twice at most per paragraph–and only if they’re absolutely necessary for clarity (e.g., if there’s an ambiguity otherwise). An overabundance of this kind of filler makes your writing look sloppy, so be careful about using them too often!
Rewriting is a hard job.
Rewriting is a hard job. This is due to the fact that you are expected to write something that’s better than the original, but keep its meaning intact. For example:
- “To be or not to be, that is the question.”
- “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over all the noise.”
If you rewrite this sentence as follows:
That said, if you change it from an interrogative form into another type of sentence (such as an imperative) then it won’t make sense anymore:
So what’s all this mean? It means it’s up to YOU!
Start with the most important part.
Start with the most important part. Then, move to the next most important part and so on until you’ve addressed all of the main points. This is one way to approach this task:
- Start with a topic sentence that summarizes what you want to say about your topic in general terms, like “This essay will discuss how Shakespeare used imagery in his plays” or “In this paper I plan to show how Shakespeare used imagery in his plays.”
- Now move onto a supporting statement or two that explains why your topic is relevant, such as “Shakespeare’s use of imagery was integral to his storytelling ability because it allowed him to vividly portray both internal and external conflicts within his characters.”
- Next take some time out by using an analogy or illustration (if possible), which may help make sense of your argument before moving onto another supporting statement: “One could therefore say that Shakespeare’s use of imagery was similar in function for him as photography would be for us today.”
Pro Tip: Our online https://paraphrasing-tool.net tool has an advanced artificial intelligence algorithm that will scan your uploaded content comprehensively and modify it with the relevant and most suitable synonyms.
Write what you want to say, not what you think you should write.
It is said that writing is a form of self-expression and not merely an act of communication. If your goal is to communicate with your audience, then you must be able to express yourself honestly and directly. As such, try not to write what you think others want to hear. The only way through which a writer can truly convey his or her message is by having the courage to say what he or she feels like saying at that moment.
Keep in mind that honesty does not mean being unkind; it simply means being true to yourself and expressing how you feel about things as they are presented before us through our senses (sight, sound, taste etc.). For example:
- Instead of saying “It was very good!” when someone serves you food or gives something valuable as gift but in reality it was dreadful due its taste/quality etc., instead say “I really liked this dish!” Or when someone gives us money for doing some work but we know there’s no monetary value in it; we could say something like this instead: “Thank You so much!”
Find your own voice by exploring other people’s words.
Rewriting is not something you can do by rote. You have to find your own voice in each sentence, and that means you need to read a lot. Read things that are different from what you usually read—not just variety for variety’s sake, but also because it will help your brain get used to new kinds of writing.
- Read things that are the same as what you usually read.
- Don’t be afraid of difficult words or complicated sentences; they may reward your efforts with insight into the author’s mind and background that isn’t apparent at first sight.
- If a sentence doesn’t make sense on its own, try reading it again—maybe once more after letting it sit for a few minutes (or hours).
The secret to efficient rewriting? Good editing!
This is a big one. Rewriting is hard. You may be tempted to just tackle the sentence at hand, but if you want to make good progress, it’s worth taking the time to think about why you’re rewriting it. It sounds obvious that rewriting would be easier if you knew what you were trying to accomplish, but often we don’t know what our own voice sounds like until we have some practice trying out different ways of saying things and seeing what sticks.
We tend to write in response to some external prompt—a classmate asks us a question, or our boss requires us to complete a report—which means it can take some effort before we come up with something that sounds authentically ours rather than just meeting someone else’s expectations. And even if those expectations align with who we really are as writers (or speakers), chances are there will still be room for improvement because people have different preferences when it comes down their own work—we all have different styles! So while editing others’ writing may seem like an afterthought compared next steps of planning and executing projects successfully…it’s actually an important part of developing your own style: After all, unless there’s someone else around who cares enough about these things that they’ll offer feedback whenever needed (and most people aren’t), then chances are good only when editing does this happen organically by accident rather than intentionally…
Conclusion
Rewriting is hard, but it’s worth it. You can use these simple tips to write a better sentence—and a better paper! The key thing is to make sure you start with an idea that’s interesting, then find words that fit together well without making your reader stumble over them. If this sounds like something you want to do more often in your writing life, then great! It’s time for us all to embrace our inner editors and rewrite some sentences.
