I have struggled with this from the time my English teacher at school gave me C+s on my papers no matter how hard I worked on them. It was incredibly frustrating (plus I didn’t like the teacher). But, I did learn how to get better.

So, I’ll let you in on a lesson learned. There are only 2 rules you need to follow:

1. Use the fewest number of words possible AND

2. Leave nothing open to interpretation

If you are able to meet the above criteria, you will have hit the mark.  It applies to everything: emails, presentations, submissions to a report. I can’t tell you how many times people add tons of detail which isn’t relevant, or they’re ambiguous with their language so that the meaning is unclear.  I have seen situations when one poorly chosen word confused the entire audience. Stop. Take a moment and see if you meet these top two criteria. And re-read your copy of Elements of Style.