Concise rule

The conciseness rule shows up in the ACT English section more than almost any other rule. Fortunately, it’s also one of the simplest (often even easier than punctuation questions once you know what to look for).

It boils down to this: the fewer words, the better.

Longer writing does not mean better writing

Many students mistakenly assume that longer writing is better writing.

That belief often leads to unnecessary fluff and poorly written essays.

Students may think this way because of word-count requirements in school assignments. It may also come from reading more complex literature in high school and then trying to imitate the longer, more complicated style. Or a student may simply not be a precise communicator yet, so they naturally use more words than necessary to make a point.

Use as few words as possible

The goal in writing is to communicate as much as possible in as few words as possible. So here’s the guiding principle you should use on ACT English questions:

The shortest, clearest answer is correct.

Read that line again, out loud.

The shortest, clearest answer is correct.

Notice what it doesn’t say: always pick the shortest answer. That isn’t true, and it isn’t the rule. You’re looking for the clearest answer that is also short.

So don’t go through the test picking the shortest option every time. A short, wrong answer is still wrong.

Here’s the distinction:

Put these together and you get:

Remember to use the clearest short answer on test day.

Conciseness with other question types

This rule often overlaps with other question types. For example, you might see a subject-verb agreement question where two answer choices fix the grammar problem, but one is wordy and the other is concise.

Also remember: there should be no redundancy. Redundancy means repeating the same idea with multiple words that mean the same thing. The ACT English section often tests conciseness by adding extra words that don’t add meaning.

Your job is to choose the answer that uses as few words as possible while still clearly communicating what the author is trying to say.

So here’s your process for every question on the ACT:

1. Eliminate redundancy
2. Select the clearest short answer

Conciseness exercise

Let’s look at an example.

Dillon thought doing his chores quickly might be the best option to obtain and get his parents’ permission to take their car for the weekend.

A. NO CHANGE
B. To obtain and get his parent’s
C. To obtain his parents’
D. To obtain his parent’s

Here, the conciseness rule is embedded in a question about apostrophes. Let’s go through the process:

1. Eliminate redundancy

We definitely have redundancy here. “To obtain” means the same thing as “to get,” so we don’t need both.

2. Pick the clearest short answer.

Now it comes down to whether we want “parent’s” or “parents’.” The pronoun “their” tells you Dillon has more than one parent. Since the word is plural, the apostrophe should go after the “s.”

So, do you know the correct answer?

Always pick the clearest short answer on the ACT English section. When all the answer choices mean the same thing, choose the one that expresses the idea in the fewest words.

Tattoo this in your brain, and you’ll knock these questions out of the park on test day.