Shorter is better

SHORTER IS BETTER

• REDUNDANCY
• WORDINESS
• PASSIVE VOICE

GENERAL INFORMATION

• This one of the key rules to know for the SAT Writing and Language Test. This test place a strong emphasis on conciseness — namely, that short, clear constructions are preferable to long, wordy ones. When you are given a phrase rewritten several ways, all of which are grammatically correct, the shortest one will virtually always be right.
• As a result, you should always start by checking the shortest answer and consider the longer ones only if it clearly does not fit.

WORDINESS

• For SAT purposes, wordiness means that a sentence can be shortened without creating a grammatical error. Concise writing is better writing. Wordy sentences force the reader to navigate through complex phrases to try to figure out the point. Concise sentences are much easier to understand. On the SAT, wordiness is a common problem on the sentence improvement subsection. The correct answer will always be the most concise grammatically correct choice.

EXAMPLE

• The concise options are not only shorter but also substituting the wordy options for the concise options makes the sentence read better. Here is an example of a sentence with a wordy phrase:
• Being that she was driven to succeed as a writer, Joyce studied great authors.
• This is the corrected version of the same sentence:
• Because she was driven to succeed as a writer, Joyce studied great authors.

REDUNDANCY

• Redundancy means using a word or phrase that repeats what is already stated or implied in the sentence. Here is an example of a sentence with a redundancy error:
• Margaret participates in an annual marathon to raise money for ulcerative colitis each year.

PASSIVE VOICE

Active Passive

William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare.

Although it is not absolutely necessary that you master passive constructions because they are always longer than active ones, the ability to recognize them can be helpful. When the shortest answer appears in the passage, it can be difficult to identify visually; noticing passive constructions can allow you to eliminate other options.

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EXPLANATION

It's pretty easy to eliminate B) and D). If you're using your ear, though, you might think that A) and C) sound equally correct, and it isn't immediately obvious which answer is shorter. If you can recognize that A) is passive, the question becomes much more straightforward. C) is active, shorter, and correct.

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