Good writing does not steal the reader’s time

Today’s reflection

William Strunk Jr., a professor of English at Cornell University, prepared The Elements of Style in 1918 to help students with their writing. In Chapter III, Principle 13, he argues that a sentence should contain no unnecessary words and a paragraph no unnecessary sentences. He immediately adds that this does not mean making every sentence short or avoiding detail. The aim is to make every word do its work. Today’s English sentence is a short direct quotation from the original; the Korean is a natural translation.

1. Concision does not mean making every sentence short. It means finding words whose removal would change neither the meaning, the judgment, nor the next action.
2. Verbal excess often conceals the writer’s anxiety or evasion of responsibility. Reducing passive constructions, abstract nouns, and long preambles makes it clearer who must decide and act.
3. Ethical brevity reduces cognitive load while preserving costs, limits, and alternatives. A short text that removes inconvenient information is not clear; it is incomplete.

A leader’s email, a product description, or a proposal affects not only the reader’s time but also the quality of the reader’s judgment. As language expands, who must do what by when—and which limits and costs matter—can recede from view. Yet using brevity as an excuse to remove unfavorable context or alternatives turns clarity into pressure. Good writing removes decoration while keeping the facts required for a fair decision. Concision is not a word count; it is responsibility for reducing the reader’s cost of finding meaning.