What's our usual first reaction when we realize that we have repeated words in our documents? We search the thesaurus for synonyms. Instead, repetition should signal a chance to tighten wording.

Look for repetition of words and ideas in consecutive sentences. In the example below, the repetition of "report" points to an opportunity to combine sentences.

The director needs our final report on the customer service initiative. He would like to have this report by May 1. Please send the results of the remaining surveys. We need results of the customer satisfaction survey in particular.

What information from the second sentence is new? Could the first two sentences be combined? Could the third and fourth sentences also be combined?

Rewrite 1: The director needs our final report on the customer service initiative by May 1. Please send the results of the remaining surveys, particularly the customer satisfaction survey.

Rewrite 1 deletes repeated words and ideas but holds on to new information. Why didn't we combine all four sentences as in Rewrite 2?

Rewrite 2: The director needs our final report on the customer satisfaction initiative by May 1, so please send me the results of the remaining surveys, particularly the customer satisfaction survey.

Sentences should be free of unnecessary words, but the reader should be able to grasp a sentence's content in a single reading. Putting too much information in one sentence may cause important ideas to be overlooked.

Therefore, be careful not to create sentences that are too long. Keep separate ideas separate.