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Speed up your academic research by extracting key points.

Everyday use

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Reduce your reading time by summarizing long blocks of text within seconds.

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Easily condense transcripts of long meetings into concise bullet points.

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Simplify hard-to-read paragraphs, sentences or complete articles with 1 click.

Text summarizer

Why use this summarizer?

  • 100% free: Generate unlimited summaries without paying a penny
  • Accurate: Get a reliable and trustworthy summary of your original text without any errors
  • No signup: Use it without giving up any personal data
  • Secure: No summary data is stored, guaranteeing your privacy
  • Speed: Get an accurate summary within seconds, thanks to AI
  • Flexible: Adjust summary length to get more (or less) detailed summaries

How to use this summarizer

1. insert, paste or download your text, 2. pick the way you want to summarize, 3. adjust your summary length, 4. get your summary in seconds.

2 ways of summarizing text

2 ways of summarizing your text

1. key sentences.

Extracts the key points of your text and turns them into digestible bullet points 

2. Concise paragraphs

Summarizes your text in a concise paragraph

Summarize your text today

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Frequently asked questions

Yes, it can. The AI has been trained on a big dataset, so technical or complex data won’t be a problem for the text summarizer .

The text summarizer is accessible on both desktop and mobile.

This text summarizer can condense long text within seconds.

At the moment, a maximum of 600 words can be summarized at once, within a few seconds. Want to summarize more? Just paste another block of text. There’s no limit on how much text you can summarize with our text summarizer .

The text summarizer can give you a longer or shorter summary, depending on your wishes. Want a more detailed summary? Just adjust the summary length at the top.

Text Compactor

Free online automatic text summarization tool.

Follow these simple steps to create a summary of your text.

Click the Summarize! button.

Read your summarized text. If you would like a different summary, repeat Step 2. When you are happy with the summary, copy and paste the text into a word processor, or text to speech program , or language translation tool

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  • Paragraph Shortener

Can exceeding the required word count be dangerous? Unfortunately, yes. Your academic paper can get rejected from a conference, and your essay's grade may suffer if the text's length goes beyond the limit. Even a blog post can be ineffective when your idea gets lost among thousands of words. But how can you shorten your text without losing its coherence and integrity? How do you dissect each piece of your work without spending the whole evening on this task? That's where our paragraph shortener comes to the rescue!

The size of your summary is: % ( words, characters)

To remove the excess text and hit the word limit can be pretty challenging, especially when you have already shortened the paragraphs as much as possible. Besides, as an author, you may consider every written phase as incredibly important. That's why our shorten paragraph tool will be helpful for you! It will provide you with an outside perspective and cut the text quickly and efficiently. Read the article below to learn more about the information that shouldn't be changed or removed from the paragraph neither by you or our tool.

⭐️ Paragraph & Essay Shortener: the Benefits

✂️ how to shorten a paragraph, 📑 how to shorten my essay.

  • 🔍 References

In actuality, you can shorten any paragraph manually without using an online tool. This process can be longer and more complicated if you have too much to say. Yet, it is achievable.

An appropriate length of a paragraph

With our tips in this section, you will learn how to shorten a paragraph while writing it.

Numerous students are scared of dividing their text into smaller parts while writing. They are afraid that paragraphs of 3-4 sentences will be considered unprofessional by the instructors. However, to make your text more readable, you have to hit “Enter” regularly. Aim to express one single idea in one paragraph with one valid piece of evidence to support it.

Break down several points in a bulleted list if your paper format allows it. This method helps you shorten the paragraph by removing all the transition phrases. Besides, it makes you formulate your arguments and ideas as clearly and concisely as you can.

Cutting sentences and phrases is a great way to improve your text’s clarity and flow. To reduce the “wordiness,” eliminate the filler words and vague statements. These might sound good, but they do not bring anything to the content.

Implementing abbreviations is another excellent way to save space and avoid distracting the reader. Remember that you can use one when the corresponding term is stated more than once in a paragraph. The first mention should be written entirely and indicate an acronym in parenthesis.

A dangling modifier can be challenging to identify at times. For that, read each sentence carefully and locate introductory phrases that come before the main clause. If you found one, consider what noun it must be modifying. If there is none, fix this mistake by inserting a new subject of the sentence.

Passive voice can be too vague and unnecessary. Besides, in many cases, it also sounds wordy and indirect. Therefore, you try to avoid it, using active voice whenever you can.

You probably know the five-paragraph structure if you are writing an essay. According to this standard organization, an academic paper should contain several sections, each serving its own function. Every part should have sentences that shouldn’t be removed or even shortened. Below, we have explored them in detail.

Qualities of a good paragraph

Introduction Paragraph

You cannot shorten most of this paragraph because it briefly introduces the topic you’re examining. It also explains what question you will answer further in the essay. This paragraph is the first one that the reader sees, so it makes sense to focus some effort on writing it well.

  • A hook is the first statement of the paragraph that should grab the reader’s attention. In an essay, it can be a fact, quote, declaration, an interesting question, or a short story. Upon seeing it, people become curious to read more; thus, you can’t avoid it when writing a paper.
  • Essential context also should be included in the introduction. It informs the audience about the historical background, the topic scope, and essay definitions. Mention things that will help your audience to understand the problems you are trying to discuss in the paper.
  • A thesis statement contains its key point of the paper and is located at the end of the paragraph. It states your position and the core message of the essay. Besides, it explains what the reader will encounter in the body below. So, this sentence can be shortened but never cut entirely. Our thesis generator will help you formulate one.

Body Paragraph

A body paragraph is any section in the middle of the paper. Generally, there are three of them in an academic essay. Each of these paragraphs should explore one respective argument and logically relate to one another.

  • A topic sentence tells the idea that the writer will discuss in the paragraph. You can shorten it a bit. Yet, make sure that it sounds clear and conveys the intended message.
  • Supporting evidence is the next step in writing your essay. It can be the facts, the data, and quotations from trustworthy nonfiction sources. List one piece of proof to support one argument you’re discussing, shortening it to your liking.
  • A concluding sentence serves as a wrap-up of the paragraph. The main goal is to reinstate the main idea of the section. Your goal here is to make it concise yet detailed enough to leave an impression of completeness.

It is more than simply a long sentence at the end of the five-paragraph essay. A reasonable conclusion has to have several things:

  • A developed thesis statement should come first in a concluding paragraph. Circle back to the beginning of your paper. See if you have resolved any contradictions and restate the thesis from the introduction accordingly. This sentence, evidently, can’t be cut from an essay but can be shortened to just a few words.
  • A summary of your research should be presented next. Here you provide all the essential points from the body paragraphs in a single sentence. Make sure it lacks filler information like examples or your speculations.
  • A concluding sentence is the last sentence in an essay. It ties together all the things mentioned in your paper. Your aim here is to leave a lasting impression on your reader, so paraphrase it until it sounds just right.

Thank you for reading the article! We hope you found it useful for your studies. If so, consider sharing it and our paragraph shortener with others.

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🔗 References

  • Cut It Down: Readers Skip Long Paragraphs – Ann Wylie, Public Relations Society of America
  • Essay Structure – Elizabeth Abrams, Writing Center at Harvard University
  • 10 Tips for Cutting Your Word Count – The University of Adelaide
  • Organization of a Traditional Academic Paper – Writing Services, University of North Carolina Wilmington

Text Compactor: Online Shorten Essay Tool

It cannot be easier to use our text compactor. Insert any text into the given window, choose the needed settings, and press the button. The results will appear in seconds!

For a person engaged in academic writing, it is crucial to save time wherever possible. There is nothing more crushing than realizing that a source you were using doesn’t fit your topic. This is especially true when it happens halfway through the text. The hours you've spent reading are lost forever, and you still have to look for new sources. This is exactly why we use essay compactors – to avoid situations such as these.

This isn’t the only reason for using summarizers. They can also be useful when you're working on your own texts. The main aims might be a) to create summaries to use as examples and b) to shorten your writing. Below, our team has discussed these points in further detail. We have also offered advice on how to effectively condense an essay on your own.

📈 Why Is a Text Compactor Useful?

👍 tips to make a text compact, 👌 online text compactor: the benefits, 🔗 references.

During your studies, you may encounter a very diverse set of tasks. You may have to write a synopsis , analyze an article, compose an essay, etc. Online tools like paragraph compactors are meant to help you with all kinds of assignments. They are free, quick, and ready to use whenever!

Benefits of an essay compactor.

Besides, a text compactor has the following benefits:

  • Reduces information to key ideas. When composing your papers or evaluating the work of others, you should be able to summarize the presented arguments and conclusions. Online tools automatically select and reveal all the critical elements from the given text.
  • Helps to memorize and understand the data. Remembering hundreds or even thousands of sentences at a time is almost impossible. A single one can go on for an entire paragraph and have complicated jargon. Summarizing tools can shorten your sentences to a manageable length, helping you understand and memorize them better.
  • Saves time. Summaries, in general, cut down the reading time. It is one of the reasons research papers typically include an abstract before the main text. In addition, digital summarizers will save you a lot of time writing and rewriting the summaries yourself.
  • Assists in reviewing materials. When you study for your exams, you have tons of information to go through. If you insert the text of an article or a book chapter into the text compactor, you will immediately see its meaning. This way, you save precious revision time and keep your material organized.
  • Creates abstracts, abridged texts, and more. As mentioned above, you will get many different assignments during your studies. Sometimes, you will have to write an abstract for a project. Or you might need to give a speech based on an academic paper. Online text summarization is an easy solution for these tasks and many others.

You may find it challenging to decide which elements of your work are essential. This becomes particularly worrying when your deadlines are approaching and your paper is still well above the word count. That’s why sentence compactors turn out to be life-saviors for many students.

Shortening a sentence in four steps.

If you insist on doing the work yourself, we have a couple of tips for you. Pay attention to them, and you won’t have any trouble shortening your writing.

Two short sentences are better than a single long one.

Lengthy sentences can be challenging to follow. They are usually packed with numerous prepositions and linking words that can be easily avoided. Breaking up drawn-out sentences into several parts will help reduce text complexity. Just pick a linking phrase or comma that you can replace with a dot and do so. But first, check what punctuation marks you should keep .

Cut down on filler words.

We are familiar with “parasite” words that appear in speech (such as “like,” “kind of,” “you know,” etc.). We may not even notice that we often use them in essay writing. Fillers are words and expressions that don’t contribute to the text’s meaning. For example, phrases like “as a matter of fact” don’t add any new information and only take up space. Try to delete them all from your writing.

Try not to sound redundant.

Like fillers, redundancies are pointless repetitions that can be removed without losing meaning. To illustrate, in the expression “final outcome,” the first word is unnecessary. That’s because both of them mean the same thing. Modifying text to get rid of the redundancies can significantly shorten it.

Stick with the active voice whenever possible.

It may seem that the passive voice sounds more professional and scholarly. However, it can also make sentences longer, more awkward, and harder to understand. Consider switching to the active voice wherever you can. It will improve readability and save space. Remember, you can always use an online sentence shortener. It will provide you with the results in seconds!

We hope that our tool will help you in your work and that you have found our text compactor useful. We have another option if you didn't like the summary you received or expected something different. Try our alternative summary generator , which is just as easy and quick to use!

How to Shorten an Essay

It is critical to make an essay more concise while maintaining its persuasiveness when shortening it. Keeping the vital arguments and evidence in the text is essential, while redundancies and complicated structures can be safely removed.

How to Shorten a Speech

Your presentation may serve various purposes. When you’re shortening it, the most important thing is not to lose the main message. Highlight the key points and use as simple and concise language as possible. This way, you can communicate your ideas effectively in less time.

How to Shorten a Paragraph

According to the rules of academic writing, one paragraph should convey one main idea. This idea is formulated in the topic sentence, and the rest sentences support and confirm it. Your task here is to preserve the meaning of the topic sentence and not lose key evidence and arguments; you can throw away unnecessary details.

  • When to Summarize, Paraphrase, and Quote – The Writing Center, George Mason University
  • Writing Concisely – The Writing Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Eliminating Wordiness – Writing Resources, Hamilton College

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5 Best ways to Make an Essay Shorter

If you are like me, you will find that you often struggle to stay within the word count in your essays.

In this article, I will show you exactly how to reduce your word count in your essay.

How to make an essay shorter

If you go over the word count in an essay, there are some strategies to make your essay shorter that make sure you keep your marks high and, sometimes, make them even higher.

The trick to going over the word count is seeing this as a positive: you now have the chance to only present your absolute best arguments.

This is a luxury other students in your class just don’t have. Reducing your word count is actually your chance to get even further ahead!

The best essays have no dull, irrelevant or sub-par content. Every paragraph is on-point and designed to win you more and more marks. When editing your work, keep this in mind.

Below, I introduce five important strategies that will help you to reduce your word count in a way that will actually increase your mark!

  • Delete your three Worst Paragraphs. …
  • Listen for Weaknesses using Google Translate or Microsoft Excel Read-out-Loud.
  • Re-Read the Marking Criteria.
  • Shorten Paragraphs over 7 Sentences Long.
  • Delete Irrelevant Words.

1. Delete your three Worst Paragraphs

I usually aim to go over my word count intentionally so I can creatively make the essay shorter in a way that increases my marks.

If I go over the word count, I can look back over my piece and find my worst performing paragraphs and remove them.

This not only helps me to ensure I present my best work to the teacher, it also forces me to admit that some of my writing is better than others. It keeps me critical of myself and always aiming for improvement.

Removing the worst paragraphs of an essay also ensures there are less boring, pointless or unanalytical sections of an essay. It means that the paragraphs I submit are the best sections – and that the teacher will be impressed throughout the piece.

To assess which paragraphs are best and worst, I do the following things:

  • Find the paragraphs with the least or worst references in them. Teachers will scan over a paragraph to assess the quality of the references in them. Paragraphs with minimal referencing, too much referencing of just one source, or only references to non-academic sources, instantly get marked down by the teacher before they’re even read. These are also often the paragraphs that provide the least depth of information. That is because finding sources to reference in a paragraph often leads to adding detail that the source has provided.
  • Find the paragraphs that are least convincing. When I re-read my paragraphs, sometimes I just think ‘the argument here is my weakest’. These are the ones I want to cut: they’re ones that won’t get me top marks. Teachers will lower your marks for any paragraph that doesn’t shine – so you’re best removing it.
  • Rate your paragraphs out of 10. I often tell my students to delete their three worst paragraphs and they say ‘I like all of them!’ In this case, you will have to get brutal with yourself: rate every paragraph out of 10. This will help you make the hard decisions about which to lose.
  • Combine two paragraphs into one. Sometimes I really like one sentence from a paragraph but don’t like the rest. If this is the case for you, have a go at extracting those good sentences from one paragraph and placing them in another one. Then, you can delete the not-so-good sentences from the original paragraph. If you do this, make sure all paragraphs still cohere around one key point.

2. Listen for Weaknesses using Google Translate or Microsoft Excel Read-out-Loud

Google Translate and Microsoft Excel both have read-out-loud options. Google Translate’s option is the easiest.

For Google Translate, simply search for ‘Google Translate’ on your internet search engine (or just click here ) to access it. Then, copy and paste the text into the translate box and press the ‘listen’ button:

screenshot of the google translate widget

For Microsoft Excel, you will need paste the whole essay into any cell and then activate the read out loud option.

This procedure is somewhat more complicated than Google Translate, but if you want to give it a go, you can get instructions from the Microsoft help website and go from there

Hearing your paper read out loud back to you can help you to identify which paragraphs or sentences are worth removing.

Here are some things to keep in mind while listening to the computer read your paper out loud to you:

  • If a sentence feels like it’s too long and exhausting to listen to, you can bet your teacher will be exhausted, too;
  • If a phrase seems awkward to hear, it will be awkward to read;
  • If the paper seems to have lost its focus on the topic area, you’ll need to remove that section or edit it to ensure it links to the essay question.

Pause the read-out-loud each time you find a sentence long or awkward and work on shortening it.

Too often, students think long, complicated sentences with fancy-sounding words will get them marks. In reality, it’s the opposite.

Being able to describe complex concepts in a very easy, understandable way is a skill all top students learn to master.

The read-out-loud option can help you to see your paper from your marker’s perspective. Use it to your advantage and listen out for anything that sounds complicated, confusing, awkward or exhausting. Delete it or shorten it immediately.

Remember, the goal is to have your paper sounding short and clear.

3. Re-Read the Marking Criteria

When editing your work, it is best to have the marking criteria by your side at all times.

The marking criteria is the list of things the teacher is looking for when marking your essay. Sometimes it’s also called:

  • Marking Criteria;
  • Indicative Content;
  • Marking Rubric;
  • Learning Outcomes

These should be easy to find. Go to your course webpage (usually on Blackboard, Canvas, or Moodle depending on your university) and find where your teacher has provided details about your assessment. If there are marking criteria, this is where it would be.

Sometimes, teachers don’t provide marking criteria.

If the teacher has simply provided an essay topic or question, that means the chances are they don’t have a list of outcomes they are marking your piece against. In these instances, you will have to simply rely on the essay question.

When you have your marking criteria or essay question by your side, read each paragraph then look back to your marking criteria.

You need to ask yourself:

  • Does this paragraph directly answer the essay question or marking criteria?
  • Does this paragraph add new information that helps me answer the essay question?

If your paragraph is not linked directly to the essay question or marking criteria, you’ve just identified the paragraph you need to remove to reduce your word count.

4. Shorten Paragraphs over 7 Sentences Long

Teachers hate long paragraphs. Teachers are just like you and me. They get bored very fast.

Chances are, any paragraph over 7 sentences isn’t being fully read. The teacher might have only read the first three sentences and made their judgement about your work based on those three sentences!

That’s why the ideal paragraph should be between 4 and 7 sentences long. This length helps to ensure:

  • You haven’t gone off on a tangent;
  • You have provided some explanatory or example sentences, but not too many;
  • You have focused only on one key idea in the paragraph.

Your paragraphs that are more than 7 sentences long will be your low-hanging fruit for reducing your word count. Read through each of these paragraphs and try to find a way to reduce it to only 6 sentences. Find those sentences that seem to drag on or add nothing useful to your discussion and delete them.

By reducing all paragraphs over 7 sentences long, you won’t only bring your word count down. You will also make your essay much clearer and easy to read.

In this way, you’re both reducing your word count and increasing your mark.

5. Delete Irrelevant Words

Going through your paper and deleting irrelevant words can often save you several hundred words and could shorten your essay enough to get you back within the required word count.

Irrelevant words are words that are overly descriptive, redundant, too emotive, or in first-person. These words tend to get the same point across in far more words than necessary.

Furthermore, you will find that in removing overly descriptive, redundant, emotive and first-person words, your work will be much improved.

This is because academic writing is supposed to be formal and direct. Writing too many words can make your marker think you have poor communication skills and do not understand academic writing requirements.

Check below for examples of how to reduce your word count by removing overly descriptive, redundant, overly emotive and first-person language.

  • Overly Descriptive: The amazing thing about the industrial revolution was that it brought about enormous changes to the ways people transported themselves and communicated across the globe in such a short amount of time.
  • Alternative: The industrial revolution brought about rapid changes in transportation and communication globally.
  • Redundant: The sum of five hundred dollars.
  • Alternative: $500
  • Redundant: It was quite unique.
  • Alternative: It was unique.
  • Redundant: It was triangular in shape.
  • Alternative: It was triangular.
  • Too Emotive: The disgusting thing about communism is that it refuses to allow poor everyday people to improve their lives by creating their own businesses that might flourish and really help our their communities, too!
  • Alternative: Communism prevents citizens from starting businesses that can help bring people and their communities out of poverty.
  • In first Person: In summary, I believe that the Industrial Revolution was good for the whole world.
  • Alternative: In summary, the Industrial Revolution was good for the world.
  • In first Person: This author argues that Thomas Edison was the greatest mind of his time.
  • Alternative: Thomas Edison was the greatest mind of his time.

Making your essay shorter can sometimes be an absolute nightmare.

By following the above five steps, you can find easy ways to reduce your word count while also improving your work.

If you are an advanced or ambitious student, you might find that you always go over the word count. This isn’t necessarily a problem.

Try to look at going over the word count as a positive thing. Going over the word count means you have the freedom to only present your best work. You have the chance to delete anything that isn’t absolutely focused on gaining you marks.

In the end, your final submission will be cleaner, easier to read and easier to mark. Hopefully, this will see your marks growing even more!

Let’s review one more time the five top ways the best students reduce their word count in an essay:

Five Top Ways to Make an Essay Shorter

  • Delete your three Worst Paragraphs
  • Use Google Translate or Microsoft Excel to Read your Paper out Loud
  • Re-Read the Marking Criteria
  • Shorten Paragraphs over 6 Sentences Long
  • Delete Irrelevant Words

Chris

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

  • Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
  • Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
  • Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
  • Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

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How to shorten an essay (2022 Top Expert Guide)

Table of Contents

 What comes to a naive mind when dwelling on “ how to shorten an essay ” is that, it is a tedious and meticulous task. 

How to shorten an essay

Shortening an essay is not difficult when you grab the right tips and tricks. These are the best common ways to make your assigned essay shorter in terms of pages. Some of these methods may reduce the essay by three or four pages. Some may cause more pages, and some may create a more elusive outcome. 

Experiment with your submission and find the ideal combination. Do not worry about the assignment due date; focus on the cat.

The five best ways to make an essay shorter include: 

1. Start with a thesis statement. A good thesis statement is the foundation of a well-rounded paper. When you begin your essay, make a clear statement. Be able to back that statement up if necessary, but be prepared to argue for it in a strong sense. Avoid the sentence “I believe that X.” Instead, state a thesis to help the reader understand exactly how you feel and why. 

2. Read your essay out loud. This will help you find areas that need improvement, and it will keep you aware of the pace of this activity. 

3. Take notes. It is easy to get caught up in this activity and lose sight of what else needs to be done. Make a note of the best ideas that come to you while doing this research activity. 

4. When writing the thesis, write down how you will prove or support it. Read your essay aloud again, and look for areas where you need more information. 

5. If your project is expository, the most commonly misunderstood aspect is the conclusion. You need to write the conclusion at the end of your project. Make sure it is clear, concise, and to the point. 

make a essay shorter

Paraphrasing

Can we shorten our essays through paraphrasing? Yes, we can. However, many students mistake rewording what they learn in the book. To create a properly-written paraphrase, you need to understand the original text and also be careful to maintain its organization. 

Paraphrasing language that is poor, vague, or missing essential details can have a significant impact on the audience. To write a good paraphrase, you need to practice and review it before publishing.

 The best way to write a good paraphrase is that the writer expresses his ideas in his own words. While paraphrasing, ensure your reader understands what you mean by your sentences and writing.

Write More Concisely – Tips to Shorten Your Essay

Need help on how to shorten an essay ? Shortening your essay is not a difficult thing to do, but it might require some effort. You will have a concise and engaging essay if you follow these steps!

Here are eight proven tips to shorten your essay:

1. Use simple, everyday words. Don’t try to conceal yourself behind big words. They will only exacerbate your flaws. 

2. Remove any unnecessary words.

Examine your adverbs (strongly, gratuitously), adjectives (large, great), and qualifiers (very, somewhat). The majority of the words you don’t need can be found here. Consider whether they are necessary. If not, get rid of them.

3. Avoid using nominalization.

How many times have you suffocated a verb by making it a noun? 

(delude – delusion, exclude – exclusion, contract – contraction) Stop it!

4. Avoid using these five words too close to a verb.

Desist from using the words’ take,’ ‘give, “make,’ ‘conduct,’ and ‘come’ too close to a verb or a nominalized verb phrase. They detract from the clarity of your sentences. 

Example: ‘The organization needs to take the defects into consideration.’  should be  ‘The organization needs to consider the defects.’ 

Other tips to shorten your essay include:

5. Make use of strong, specific verbs and nouns. This allows you to avoid using the passive voice, cut down on wordiness, and eliminate modifiers and qualifiers.

6. Make use of the active voice.

You must use the active voice if you follow plain language rules. It assists you in simplifying your message and saying precisely what you want to say. The active voice eliminates uncertainty. We are always aware of who is doing what. The Hemingway App assists you in identifying passive voice.

7. Avoid using jargon.

Overused phrases in a company or industry lose all meaning. Please refrain from using the terms’ like, ‘think outside the box,’ ‘win-win situation,’ ‘low-hanging fruit,’ and ‘pushing the envelope.’ Your readers will ignore you if you don’t say what you mean.

8. Avoid using verbs that require you to ‘tell.’

When used to describe something, these ten verbs will unnecessarily increase your word count. 

These ten verbs are appeared, mused, seemed, thought, wondered, seemed, felt, decided, heard, and realized. Stay away from them.

Shortening an essay requires a lot of focus, but the payoff is well worth the effort. Try out these tips, and soon you’ll be able to significantly shorten your essay without removing any significant content from the piece.

Think about your essay like a puzzle. You can add and subtract individual pieces to make the picture stronger. 

How to shorten an essay (2022 Top Expert Guide)

Pam is an expert grammarian with years of experience teaching English, writing and ESL Grammar courses at the university level. She is enamored with all things language and fascinated with how we use words to shape our world.

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Free Sentence Shortener

Trim excess words, and sharpen your message. Try our sentence shortener tool, Rephrase, to create concise and impactful writing in seconds.

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I’ve tried every free and paid writing/editing/grammar extension out there, and this by far is the best one my team and I have found. It’s fast, accurate, and really helps improve your writing beyond simple grammar suggestions.

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ProWritingAid has a Rephrase feature now—I just tried it today, and it helps so much! Like a magic✨ editor!

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I just used rephrasing! It’s awesome! Especially the sensory suggestions. It helps with writer’s block for me. I can’t believe how PWA keeps getting better and better!

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Shorten sentences in just a few clicks

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Condense your message and improve clarity using our sentence shortener tool. Choose from multiple options to rephrase any sentence.

Sentence shortener

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Decide whether to make your text shorter or longer, more formal or informal, or even add sensory details. Customize your message to suit your readers.

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Rewrite and shorten sentences across all the apps you use, whether they’re on desktop or online.

Sentence Shortener FAQs

What is prowritingaid.

ProWritingAid is an AI-powered tool that enhances your writing abilities. The tool improves your writing for clarity, style, and impact by correcting grammatical errors and suggesting alternative ways to write sentences.

Find out more about all our features here .

Can ProWritingAid write content for me?

ProWritingAid doesn't write content for you. Instead, the tool helps you express your ideas better by offering alternative ways to write your sentences.

Is ProWritingAid free?

With a free account, you can use Rephrase to shorten sentences up to ten times a day. ProWritingAid will also fix grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors on up to 500 words. To remove these limits, you can upgrade to a paid plan .

Does ProWritingAid work everywhere online?

ProWritingAid can be used on almost all websites and online apps by installing our browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge).

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IMAGES

  1. 5 Best ways to Make an Essay Shorter (2021)

    make a essay shorter

  2. Writing A Short Essay: Essay Structure

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  3. How To Write a Short Essay Guide with Tips & Examples

    make a essay shorter

  4. Simple Ways to Write a Short Essay (with Pictures)

    make a essay shorter

  5. 6 steps on how to write a short essay perfectly

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  6. Essay Writing Examples

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VIDEO

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  3. How to make your essay instantly longer 😎🤫

  4. Introducing... Junk Drawer Video Essays!

  5. how to make essay recipe 3 daal masore mong and daal mash 👍

  6. Stand Out With These 3 College Essay Openings

COMMENTS

  1. Free Text Shortener Tool - Summarizer & Paragraph Shortener

    It can be an essay, research paper, lab report, or other academic text. Paste your body paragraphs into the box to create a summary for your concluding part. When you need to shorten your essay. Use this tool if you exceed the word limit in your essay or a particular paragraph. It also works as a sentence shortener.

  2. AI Text Summarizer - QuillBot AI

    QuillBot's AI Text Summarizer, trusted by millions globally, utilizes cutting-edge AI to summarize articles, papers, or documents into key summary paragraphs. Try our free AI text summarization tool now!

  3. Free Text Summarizer | Reduce Your Reading Time - Scribbr

    1. Insert, paste or download your text. 2. Pick the way you want to summarize. 3. Adjust your summary length. 4. Get your summary in seconds!

  4. Text Compactor: Free Online Automatic Text Summarization Tool

    Step 3. Read your summarized text. If you would like a different summary, repeat Step 2. When you are happy with the summary, copy and paste the text into a word processor, or text to speech program, or language translation tool.

  5. Free Essay Shortener: Shorten an Essay for Me | EssayGPT

    You can use our tool with a few simple steps: 1. Copy and paste the academic content into the input box. 2. Select the target audience you are writing for, the tone of voice, and the language of your essay. 3. Press the "Generate" button to let the essay shortener eliminate redundant phrases and highlight key points.

  6. Paragraph Shortener – Essay & Paragraph Summarizing Tool

    Paste the section of the text (article, essay, etc.) in the field below and press the button. Get your shortened paragraph in a second! 17,000 characters left. Place your order and get your paper in 1 hour , without plagiarism! Let's Start. Number of sentences in results: Show keywords. Get result.

  7. Text Compactor: Online Tool to Shorten Your Essay or Speech

    How to Shorten an Essay. It is critical to make an essay more concise while maintaining its persuasiveness when shortening it. Keeping the vital arguments and evidence in the text is essential, while redundancies and complicated structures can be safely removed. How to Shorten a Speech. Your presentation may serve various purposes.

  8. 5 Best ways to Make an Essay Shorter (2024) - Helpful Professor

    1. Delete your three Worst Paragraphs. I usually aim to go over my word count intentionally so I can creatively make the essay shorter in a way that increases my marks. If I go over the word count, I can look back over my piece and find my worst performing paragraphs and remove them.

  9. How to shorten an essay (2022 Top Expert Guide) - INK

    The five best ways to make an essay shorter include: 1. Start with a thesis statement. A good thesis statement is the foundation of a well-rounded paper. When you begin your essay, make a clear statement. Be able to back that statement up if necessary, but be prepared to argue for it in a strong sense. Avoid the sentence “I believe that X.”

  10. Free Sentence Shortener | ProWritingAid

    Is ProWritingAid free? With a free account, you can use Rephrase to shorten sentences up to ten times a day. ProWritingAid will also fix grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors on up to 500 words. To remove these limits, you can upgrade to a paid plan.