Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
CONCISENESS 1, CONCISION
“Be concise,” say schoolteachers and editors, and that’s good advice for writers of expository prose. “Speak your piece simply and briefly, and then sit down,” say the speech coaches, and that’s sound advice too. But don’t let your concision make your prose laconic, difficult, or unclear, or your speech dark or mysterious. Conciseness is not the only virtue. “Eighty-seven years ago our ancestors began this country …” is not the only way to say it. But neither is “That nice gentleman has leaned too far over the rail and tumbled over it into the water” the most appropriate thing to shout in the shipboard emergency; “man overboard!” would be more concise—and more helpful.
