ESSENCE2 — Streamlining Text

Justification

Removing unnecessary instances of "that" from sentences can indeed do more than streamline the text. Here are the additional benefits:
1. Improves Readability: Cluttered sentences can slow reading speed and make comprehension more challenging. By eliminating extra "that"s, sentences become easier to read and understand quickly.
2. Enhances Professionalism: In professional or academic writing, conciseness and clarity are highly valued. Redundant words can make text appear less polished. Streamlined sentences often appear more professional and well-considered.
3. Increases Engagement: Dense, wordy text can distract readers. By making sentences crisper and more direct, you're likely to keep your audience more engaged.
4. Clarifies Focus: Each unnecessary word in a sentence can dilute its impact. By removing superfluous "that"s, you sharpen the focus of your sentences, making your main points stand out more clearly.
5. Improves Flow: Excessive wordiness can disrupt the flow of your writing. Streamlined sentences contribute to a smoother, more natural narrative flow, which can greatly enhance the reader’s experience.
6. Reduces Ambiguity: Sometimes, "that" can introduce ambiguity about which clauses it's linking or what it's referring to. Removing unnecessary instances can reduce this ambiguity, making your meaning more explicit.

Summary

While streamlining is a primary reason to cut extra "that"s from the content, the practice also contributes significantly to the overall quality of the text, affecting readability, professionalism, engagement, clarity, flow, and precision.

Close

Generic writing guidelines are not necessarily applicable to the writing of specification documents. Nor does the seeming violation of such guidelines necessarily mean that any specific text is unclear as already written. All text in the specification was reviewed and adopted as is with specific technical interpretation. Any changes to the text for purely stylistic reasons must therefore be done with extreme care, followed by a full review, to ensure that such changes do not alter the interpretation of the text as it was adopted. This would require a considerable level of effort for a possible minor gain in presentation, which itself is likely to be subjective. Therefore, the FTF has chosen not to make such changes to the text for purely stylistic reasons.