Clean Up Preposition Clutter

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Clean Up Preposition Clutter

• Excerpts from
• Painless Writing
• by Jeffrey Strausser

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Preposition Overuse

• Ruins your style
• Detracts from your hard work
• Creates wordy, confusing sentences

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Identifying Prepositions

• Definition A word used to link a noun to a
  sentence, and in doing so, relates the noun to
  either another noun or a verb.
• http//www.chompchomp.com/terms/preposition.htm

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Common Prepositions

• By
• Under
• For
• Near
• About
• On
• Against
• To
• With
• Next
• Inside

• Because
• During
• From
• Like
• Over
• In
• Until
• Across
• Above
• Toward
• Outside

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How many are too many?

• No easy rulethe real test is in the reading
• If your sentences contain only a few verbs,
  especially verbs in the passive voice, and many
  prepositions, your essay is probably wordy and
  confusing
• If your writing contains 20 to 25 prepositions,
  you probably have used too many

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Painless Technique No. 1

• Make your writing clearer and more interesting by
  eliminating unnecessary prepositional phrases.

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Prepositional Phrases

• A preposition and a noun acting as the
  prepositions object.
• The preposition depicts a relationship to the noun

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Examples

• On the beach
• Near the desk
• Against the wind
• From the beginning
• Under the table

• Off the cuff
• During his speech
• Across the continent
• Toward the end
• Until the last

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Excessive Use

• By virtue of learning to write better, you
  will open a whole new world with reference to
  career opportunities. It is of importance that
  students realize that writers will be needed by
  the education and business communities. In the
  present, both of these sectors have expressed
  disappointment in the writing skills of those
  employed. Make no mistake about it people who
  can write well are demanded by employers
  everywhere.

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Step 1 Eliminate Compound
Prepositional
Phrases

• Define A series of prepositional phrases that
  act as one preposition
• Examples
• with regard to
• with respect to
• in reference to
• in connection with
• for the purposes of

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Simplify

• Compound
• at that point in time
• by means of
• by reason of
• during the course of
• from the point of view of
• in accordance with
• in relation to
• on the basis of
• with reference to
• for the purposes of
• in favor of
• in terms of

• Simple
• then, now
• by
• because of
• during
• from, for
• by, under
• about, concerning
• by, from
• about, concerning
• for, under
• for
• in

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Step 2 Where possible, convert into
participles.

• Prepositional Phrase
• In the attempt to
• In the fear of failure
• In response to

• Participle
• Attempting
• Fearing failure
• Responding to

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Step 3 Convert to Adverbs

• The writers novels were of critical acclaim.
• The writers novels were critically acclaimed.
• His actions were under close control.
• His actions were closely controlled.
• John was the victim of a brutal attack.
• John was brutally attacked.
• Janet was under the mistaken assumption that she
  was not liked.
• Janet mistakenly assumed that she was not liked.

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Step 4 Convert to Adjectives

• It is the nature of humans to admire beauty.
• It is human nature to admire beauty.
• The response of the audience was silence.
• The audiences response was silence.
• The response of the class to the teachers joke
  was many groans.
• The classs response to the teachers joke was
  many groans.

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Step 5 Write in the active voice.

• The exam scores were tabulated by the teacher.
• The teacher tabulated the exam scores.
• The baseball card was purchased by the collector.
• The collector purchased the baseball card.
• His success was resented by his teammates.
• His teammates resented his success.
• The grounds were observed by means of hidden
  cameras.
• Hidden cameras observed the grounds.

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Applying the 5-step process

• Extreme overuse my require changing the entire
  paragraph structure.
• You may need to chop a long sentence into two or
  three sentences,
• or convert several offending simple sentences
  into a concise compound sentences.
• Remember you can always simply eliminate
  prepositions if they do not contribute meaning or
  action.

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The 5 Steps

• Replace compound prepositional phrases with
  simple prepositions.
• Where possible, convert prepositional phrases
  into participles.
• Where possible, convert prepositional phrases
  into adverbs.
• Where possible, convert prepositional phrases
  into adjectives.
• Write selected passive voice sentences in the
  active.

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Identify the Prepositional Phrases

• By virtue of learning to write better, you
  will open a whole new world with reference to
  career opportunities. It is of importance that
  students realize that writers will be needed by
  the education and business communities. In the
  present, both of these sectors have expressed
  disappointment in the writing skills of those
  employed. Make no mistake about it people who
  can write well are demanded by employers
  everywhere.

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1st sentence

• By virtue of learning to write better, you will
  open a whole new world with reference to career
  opportunities.
• Compound prepositional phrase adds nothing to
  the sentence, so eliminate it (Step One).
• Compound prepositional phrase convert to
  participle, regarding (Steps One Two).

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1st Sentence Rewrite

• Learning to write better will open a whole new
  world regarding career opportunities.

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2nd sentence

• It is of importance that students realize that
  writers will be needed by the education and
  business communities.
• Convert to one-word adjective, important (Step
  Four).
• Written in passive voicerewrite in the active
  (Step Five).

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2nd sentence rewrite

• Students must realize that the education and
  business communities will need writers.

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3rd sentence

• In the present, both of these sectors have
  expressed disappointment in the writing skills of
  those employed.
• Convert to adverb, presently (Step Three).
• Eliminate.
• Combine the two phrases their employees
  writing skills.

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3rd sentence rewrite

• Presently, both sectors have expressed
  disappointment in their employees writing skills.

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Last sentence

• Make no mistake about it people who can write
  well are demanded by employers everywhere.
• Passive voice. Rewrite employers everywhere
  are demanding people who can write well.

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Last sentence rewrite

• Make no mistake about it employers everywhere
  are demanding people who can write well.

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New paragraph

• Learning to write better will open a whole new
  world regarding career opportunities. Students
  must realize that the education and business
  communities will need writers. Presently, both
  sectors have expressed disappointment in their
  employees writing skills. Make no mistake about
  it employers everywhere are demanding people who
  can write well.

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More help with prepositions

• Purdue OWL http//owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/res
  ource/594/01/
• The Guide to Grammar and Writing sponsored by the
  Capital Community College Foundation
  http//grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/concise.htm
  
• University of Ottawa http//www.arts.uottawa.ca/
  writcent/hypergrammar/preposit.html