Removing unnecessary words

Sometimes, text contains unnecessary words. Removing unnecessary words has the following benefits:

The text is clearer to read.
Because there is less text, the text is faster to read.
Because there is less text, the cost of translation is decreased.

The examples are from a project in which a set of old reference manuals was updated. By choosing words carefully, the number of words was decreased. (Decreasing the number of words is not the same as minimalism.)

In the table that follows, the first column shows the old text, and the second column shows the new text. The new text is much shorter than the old text. (Clearly, text cannot always be simplified.)

Good editing decreases the length of text
Old text	New text
A feature sometimes referred to as	This is called
As a means of entering	To enter
Despite the fact that	Although
have been designed to provide	provide
is also displayed on the screen	is displayed
It is important to remember that	[none]
It should be borne in mind, however, that if	However, if
Respond with	Type
Select the command to insert the protocol entry by typing	Type
The <name> word processor provides a set of commands to allow you to	You can
The spelling checker scans the entire document from the top downwards	[none]
The system also provides you with the opportunity to create	You can also create
The text can be modified in the required fashion	Modify the text
To record the fact that	To record that
Type the exact wording of the item you want to encode	Type the new code
Using this technique also allows you to move	You can move