How to Cut 20% of Your Word Count Without Losing Anything

Almost every first draft is at least 20% too long. Here are the specific cuts that make writing tighter and stronger without removing a single idea.

Almost every first draft can lose 20% of its words and become better for it. Not by removing ideas — by removing the words that were never carrying any. Here is exactly where to cut.

Cut the throat-clearing

"It is important to note that," "I would argue that," "In my opinion," "What I am trying to say is." These phrases delay the actual sentence. Delete them and start with the point. "It is important to note that costs have risen" becomes "Costs have risen." Nothing is lost.

Cut redundant pairs

English is full of phrases that say one thing twice: "each and every," "first and foremost," "various different," "end result," "future plans," "past history." Pick one word. "Each and every customer" is just "every customer."

Cut intensifiers that do not intensify

"Very," "really," "quite," "actually," "basically," "literally." Most of these add nothing. "Very unique" is just "unique." "Really important" is usually just "important." Delete them and the sentence often gets stronger, because the remaining word has to carry the weight on its own.

Cut "that" where it is optional

"I think that we should leave" works fine as "I think we should leave." Many instances of "that" can be removed without changing the meaning. Read the sentence without it — if it still works, leave it out.

Turn phrases into single words

"At this point in time" is "now." "In the event that" is "if." "Due to the fact that" is "because." "In order to" is "to." Each replacement saves several words and reads more directly.

The method

After finishing a draft, go through it once looking only for words to cut — not ideas, words. Aim to remove one in five. You will find the draft is not just shorter but clearer, because every remaining word is now doing real work.

What this really means in practice

The practical question behind How to Cut 20% of Your Word Count Without Losing Anything is not whether Writing Craft sounds impressive in theory. It is whether the advice survives contact with an ordinary draft, a busy inbox, a deadline, or a reader who is not already convinced. That is the standard I use throughout this guide: if a recommendation does not make the next draft clearer, faster, or easier to trust, it does not deserve space on the page.

Good English writing is rarely about sounding grand. It is about making the reader do less work. The strongest sentence usually has one job, one clear subject, and one clean movement from idea to consequence. When a paragraph feels heavy, the problem is often not vocabulary. It is that three different thoughts are trying to share one sentence.

A simple way to apply it today

Start with one small test. Take a real piece of writing connected to this topic, not a perfect sample made for a tutorial. Read it once for meaning, once for structure, and once for friction. On the first pass, ask whether the point is worth making. On the second, ask whether the order helps the reader. On the third, look for the exact sentence where attention drops. That sentence is usually where the improvement begins.

A practical editing habit is to mark the sentence that carries the point of each paragraph. If you cannot find that sentence, the paragraph is probably performing instead of communicating. Once the point is visible, you can cut decoration, move examples closer to the claim, and let the writing breathe.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not optimize the wrong thing. A cleaner sentence is not always a better argument. Improve clarity without sanding away evidence, personality, or useful specificity.
• Do not compare tools or techniques in the abstract. Test them on the kind of writing you actually produce, because a student essay, a client email, a blog post, and a newsletter all punish different weaknesses.
• Do not let speed become the whole goal. Faster writing is valuable only when the final message is still accurate, considerate, and recognizably yours.

My working checklist

• Does the opening tell the reader exactly what problem is being solved?
• Can a busy reader understand the recommendation by scanning the headings?
• Is there at least one concrete example, not only general advice?
• Would I still stand behind this paragraph if a reader made a decision from it?
• Is the final version sharper without becoming colder?

Final verdict

The best version of this advice is deliberately practical: use Writing Craft to reduce uncertainty, not to hide from judgment. The page should leave you with a clearer next action, not just a stronger opinion. If you remember only one thing from this article, remember this: the winning choice is the one that improves the real writing in front of you.