circuitous wording

Circuitous Wording

Our language can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of little
streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses
with additions from various periods; and this surrounded by
a multitude of new boroughs with straight regular streets
and uniform houses.

~Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Circumlocutions” (roundabout wordings) are indirect and, while not ungrammatical and forbidden, are avoided by good writers.

Instead of taking the shortest path to express your meaning directly, you wander around, using extra words, which can make you seem pompous and pretentious.

Such word padding can look like you are trying to seem“important,” thereby irritating readers.

In Dragnet, Sgt. Friday requested, “All we want are the facts, maam.” Similarly, your readers want “the facts” as succinctly, clearly and directly as possible.

Examples of excessive wording, with concise alternatives in parentheses:

“give rise to” (“cause”)

“in advance of” (“before”)

“in this day and age” (“today”)

“ahead of schedule” (“early”)

“render assistance to” (“help”)

“placed under arrest” (“arrested”)

“made a statement” (“said”)

“in spite of the fact that” (“although”)

“take into consideration” (“consider”)

“at this point in time” (“now”)

“a large proportion of” (“many”)