Three Easy Ways to Shorten Sentences

Perhaps you're writing a speech word for word and delivering from the text. You may be speaking from bullet points. Or you might have no notes at all.

In every situation, you make messages easier to follow when you speak in short sentences.

This is coaching we give to students in our programs, all the time. They nod in agreement. Then they struggle to deliver short sentences, despite good intentions.

Here are three practical ways to shorten your sentences when you speak and present.

Take out conjunctions where you can

Most of us tend to string ideas together with and, but, so, and because. Sometimes, a conjunction does make the connection between two sentences stronger. Often, though, you can remove them and have a message that's easier to deliver and easier to follow.

Consider if you delete most of the conjunctions from this sentence:

I will go to the grocery store and buy some Wheaties and I'll eat them and then be like the athletes who wind up on cereal boxes and it will be that easy and the gold medal will be mine.

And wind up with this:

I will go to the grocery store. I will buy some Wheaties. I'll eat them and be like the athletes who wind up on cereal boxes. It will be that easy. The gold medal will be mine.

When you remove the conjunctions that aren't necessary, you give your audience one idea per sentence. You build in places to pause for a beat. The changes make it easier for them to follow along.

Remove empty filler

Even seasoned speaker can be guilty: It's easy to surround your hard, clear words with phrases that don't add any information.

Look at this sentence:

There's something I want to keep in mind as we move forward with this project and that's how important it is to emphasize the really strong return on investment, not just the work involved.

Then see how it can easily be reduced by removing the words and phrases that are filling space without adding anything:

Let's remember to emphasize the strong return on investment, not just the work involved.

As speakers, we may be tempted to soften our statements. We might hope to suggest instead of demand, for example. We worry that when we're too direct, we come off as over-confident.

In some cases, you may need a phrase that converts a strong statement into a suggestion. Ask yourself: Am I being deliberate about using that phrase? Or am I using filler I can leave out?

Some of the filler we're hearing a lot these days are words that cast doubt on the speaker's confidence: Kind of, sort of, and maybe are examples. As a presenter, consider. If you say "We're kind of thinking this is maybe the right choice," does it inspire the confidence you feel and want to convey?

Reduce pairs of words to one

Our founder Reid Buckley introduced this idea to us, and now we can't stop noticing the pairs we hear and read.

For example, you might hear a speaker say:

Each and every one of us has something wonderful and special to contribute as we move ahead with courage and boldness.

Is that message less effective if you identify the pairs and use just one word instead of two:

Each of us has something special to contribute as we move ahead with courage.

Of course, you might use two words for emphasis. Be deliberate. Consider if that's really what you're doing.

Some speakers challenge that the two words in a pair have slightly different meanings. Consider if the difference is significant enough to warrant that they both be included. If it is, use your pair. If not, get rid of one and shorten your sentence.