• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Plain Text

Copywriting that means business

  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Contact

Z – ZEN: MINIMALISM IN SENTENCES

30th November 2009 by Paul Waddington

The business world is notorious for ignoring one of the best ways to keep writing readable: short sentences.

Take this fictional, yet typical, opening sentence of a press release:

“Anycompany, a leading developer of best-in-class hardware solutions for business-to-business supply-chain optimisation, today announced a strategic partnership with leading retail systems integration consultancy Anyconsultancy to provide tailored supply-chain solutions for the retail sector.”

At 39 words, it far exceeds the ‘easy readability’ threshold for sentence length. Who wants all those words? The reader? No. the writer of the release wants to make sure that their favourite ‘corporate descriptors’ are included. So they do. All in one sentence.

It doesn’t have to be like this. The minimalist approach removes the unnecessary descriptors — the jargon — or hides them at the end of the release where they can do no harm. Instead, it highlights the most interesting part of story, grabbing the reader’s attention in one short sentence:

“Anycompany has signed a deal with Anyconsultancy to provide retailers with new ways to manage their supply chain.”

It is ironic that the stuff we most want our potential customers to understand — new business letters, brochures, press releases — are the things they least want to read. Keeping sentences short makes your writing more effective.

Filed Under: A to Z of Plain Text

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Top posts through the years 31st October 2022
  • Copywriting across the spectrum: TOV and why it matters 11th March 2019
  • Another book on “business bullshit”? I call bullshit 26th November 2018
  • Our acclaimed copywriting workshop is back! 19th May 2017
  • Why copywriting is a craft, not an art 15th March 2017

Categories

Tags

Briefing copywriters Brochure writing Business jargon Capitalisation Case study writing Email copywriting Language development Language miscellany Nouns as verbs Powerful copywriting Powerpoint presentations Public sector copywriting Snappy copy Social networking Structuring copy Web copy Writing concise copy Writing straplines Writing white papers

Footer

Latest From Our Blog

  • Top posts through the years 31st October 2022
  • Copywriting across the spectrum: TOV and why it matters 11th March 2019
  • Another book on “business bullshit”? I call bullshit 26th November 2018

Menu

  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • About Plain Text
  • Privacy Policy

Search Plain Text

  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • About Plain Text
  • Privacy Policy

© 2025 · Plain Text Limited · Website by Dewar Green · Photography by IDB Creative