March editing tip: the rule of one

Have you noticed how descriptions, especially ones written by AI, tend to come in threes? The candidate for this position needs to be friendly, courteous, and tactful. The meeting was informative, detailed, and comprehensive. The private gym offers a challenging, fun, and personalized fitness experience for every client. It is as if the rhythm of the sentence demands that three adjectives are better than one. Sometimes, you might just need all three descriptors. But if your writing repeats this pattern, it becomes stale, formulaic, and redundant (see what I did there?). So take a moment to find your patterns of three, and force yourself to pick just one of the adjectives to keep. Often, you will notice that the three can be quite similar, and your writing is more crisp and to the point when you focus on one descriptor per sentence.

Try it:

The private gym offers a personalized fitness experience. It is important to us to challenge our clients with a specific set of exercises that fit their unique needs. We also make sure that you have fun while you are here–we want this to be the best part of your day.

You can still communicate all the same information, but the rule of one descriptor per sentence means you choose your words carefully, and avoid filler.