1. Cut the qualifiers
Words like "very", "really", "quite", "somewhat", and "just" rarely add meaning — they usually signal that a stronger single word is available. "Very tired" is "exhausted." "Really important" is "critical." Search your draft for these words and, for each one, ask whether a more precise adjective would let you delete both the qualifier and the weaker word it's propping up.
2. Trim throat-clearing openers
Sentences that start with "I think that...", "It is important to note that...", or "The fact that..." usually delay the actual point. Deleting the opener and starting with the real subject almost always tightens the sentence without losing meaning.
3. Prefer active voice, most of the time
"The report was reviewed by the committee" is passive; "The committee reviewed the report" is active, shorter, and clearer about who did what. Passive voice isn't wrong — it's the right choice when the actor is unknown or unimportant ("the window was broken") — but if you find several passive constructions in a row, converting most of them to active voice usually improves flow.
4. Replace repeated words with variety, or with nothing
If the same word appears four or five times in a short passage, a reader notices, even subconsciously. Sometimes the fix is a synonym; often the better fix is simply deleting the repeated word where it isn't doing real work (many sentences repeat a noun that a pronoun could carry instead).
5. Break up sentences that run past 25–30 words
Long sentences aren't automatically bad, but a string of them makes writing exhausting to follow. If a sentence has more than one main idea joined by "and" or "which", it's often a candidate to become two sentences. Reading the sentence aloud is a fast way to feel where a natural break belongs.
6. Cut adverbs that restate the verb
"Whispered quietly", "shouted loudly", and "nodded in agreement" all repeat information the verb already carries. Removing the adverb usually loses nothing.
7. End on the strongest word, not a preposition or filler
Readers give slightly more weight to the last word of a sentence. Compare "That's what I was worried about" with "That was my exact worry." Reordering a sentence so it lands on a concrete noun, rather than trailing off on "about" or "though", makes even simple sentences feel more deliberate.
Putting it into practice
You don't need to apply all seven fixes to every sentence — that would over-edit a piece into something stiff. Instead, do one pass focused only on qualifiers, then a second pass focused only on sentence length, and so on. Editing for one thing at a time catches far more than trying to fix everything simultaneously.
As you edit, the WordlyCounter Suggestions panel can flag long sentences, heavy passive voice, and repeated words automatically, so you know exactly where to focus your next editing pass.