AEE 2413: How to Be Concise Part 2: Choose Your Words

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Ears English Podcast Episode: AEE 2413: How to Be Concise Part 2: Choose Your Words
Release Date: May 22, 2025
Hosts: Lindsay McMahon and Michelle Kaplan

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Introduction

In Episode 2413 of the All Ears English Podcast, hosts Lindsay McMahon and Michelle Kaplan delve into the art of being concise in English communication. This episode, the second installment in a three-part series, focuses on the strategic selection of vocabulary to enhance clarity and impact in everyday conversations, professional settings, and academic environments.

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Key Topics and Discussions

1. Understanding the Importance of Conciseness

   Lindsay and Michelle open the discussion by addressing common challenges in achieving conciseness. They emphasize that excessive use of words can dilute the effectiveness of the message.

   Michelle [02:06]: "What is the biggest culprit that keeps someone from being concise?"
   Lindsay [02:11]: "Honestly, probably using too many words. That's a big one. And the more words we use, the less impactful each word becomes."

   This exchange sets the stage for exploring practical strategies to refine language use.

2. Strategy 1: Cutting Filler Words

   The first strategy centers around eliminating unnecessary fillers such as "like," "um," and "you know," which can distract from the main message.

   Michelle [04:49]: "The first one is to cut filler words. Right. These likes and other unnecessary fillers. Yes, we all do it, but they can dilute or distract from our message."

   Practical Tips:

   • Recording and Self-Monitoring: Lindsay suggests recording conversations to identify and reduce filler usage.
   • Slowing Down Speech: Michelle advises slowing down to allow time for thoughtful word selection, which can enhance fluency and control.

   Lindsay [05:10]: "We can record ourselves. We can take notes about how many fillers we're using in any given conversation."

3. Strategy 2: Avoiding Redundancy and Shortening Phrases

   The second strategy focuses on eliminating repetitive words and phrases that do not add value to the message.

   Michelle [07:04]: "When we think about being redundant, it's about being repetitive... we want to eliminate those fillers."

   Examples Provided:

   • "Due to the fact that" → "Because"
   • "End result" → "Result"
   • "Each and every" → "Each" or "Every"
   • "Let's collaborate together" → "Collaborate"

   Lindsay [07:34]: "Due to the fact that. Imagine how. How many brain calories that takes to actually say that. It's a lot, Aubrey."

   These examples illustrate how simplifying language can make communication more direct and efficient.

4. Strategy 3: Eliminating Unnecessary Qualifiers

   The third strategy involves removing weak or vague descriptors to strengthen the message.

   Michelle [09:58]: "The third is to eliminate unnecessary qualifiers. So as a language learner, you have likely seen this where people will say, you know, very, very easy. Say this instead."

   Examples Provided:

   • "Very big problem" → "Enormous problem"
   • "Really angry" → "Furious"

   Lindsay [10:28]: "You'll have an impression of someone as being someone who is concise and respects your time, depending on the language, the vocabulary they use."

   By choosing more precise adjectives, speakers can convey their messages more vividly and engage their audience effectively.

5. Strategy 4: Using Stronger Verbs

   The final strategy emphasizes replacing "be" verbs with more dynamic alternatives to add vigor to the communication.

   Michelle [11:49]: "Our fourth and final tip is to use stronger verbs. Replace be verbs whenever possible. This is a minor change, but it is more concise, and it often does make your message a little bit stronger."

   Examples Provided:

   • "There is an opportunity" → "We have an opportunity"
   • "There are time-saving benefits" → "We can save time"

   Lindsay [12:57]: "More about you and me, not about what's out there. Abstractly speaking. Right?"

   These substitutions make statements more personal and action-oriented, enhancing the overall impact.

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Practical Application: Role Play Scenario

To demonstrate the application of these strategies, Lindsay and Michelle engage in a role play of a school board meeting. This exercise highlights how concise language can make communication more effective even in formal settings.

Michelle [15:36]: "Because we only have 30 minutes. Minutes."
Lindsay [15:55]: "I have an announcement to start us out."

Throughout the role play, they showcase the use of precise vocabulary and the elimination of unnecessary phrases, reinforcing the episode's strategies.

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Final Takeaways

Lindsay and Michelle conclude the episode by reiterating the significance of vocabulary in achieving conciseness. They encourage listeners to consume a variety of content, such as reading and watching media, to naturally acquire a richer and more varied vocabulary.

Lindsay [17:31]: "They just play an enormous role. Right. To think about how it seems subtle but really does make a difference."

They also preview the next episode, which will explore grammatical techniques to further enhance conciseness in communication.

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Conclusion

Episode 2413 of the All Ears English Podcast offers valuable insights into refining English communication through strategic vocabulary choices. By implementing the discussed strategies—cutting filler words, avoiding redundancy, eliminating unnecessary qualifiers, and using stronger verbs—listeners can enhance their clarity and impact in both personal and professional interactions. The episode not only provides practical examples but also encourages active practice, essential for mastering concise communication.

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Additional Resources

• Previous Episode: Episode 2410: How to Be Concise Part 1: Direct Your Message
• Upcoming Episode: Part 3: Using Grammar to Be More Concise

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Quote Highlights:

• Michelle [04:49]: "These likes and other unnecessary fillers... can dilute or distract from our message."
• Lindsay [07:34]: "Due to the fact that... it's a lot, Aubrey."
• Michelle [09:58]: "Eliminate unnecessary qualifiers... say this instead."
• Lindsay [12:57]: "More about you and me, not about what's out there. Abstractly speaking."

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By focusing on connection rather than perfection, Lindsay and Michelle empower English learners to communicate more effectively and confidently.

Transcript

[A]

This is an All Ears English podcast. Episode 2413 how to be Concise Part 2 Choose your words welcome to the All Ears English podcast. Downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. With your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz and Lindsey McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, usa. To get real time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the Allears English app for iOS and Android. Start your seven day free trial at allearsenglish.com forward/app.

[B]

In this part two of our three part series on being concise, find out what words you can deploy to tighten up your message and where to find those words. Listen in today. In today's global market, good enough. English isn't enough. Are you ready to compete? And in meetings, interviews and negotiations, take our free fluency quiz to find out if your English is ready for the world stage. Are you B1, B2 or C1? And how can you level up? It's fast, it's free and it could give you the edge you need. Start your fluency quiz [e-mail] fluencyscore that's allearsenglish.com fluency S C O R E. Hey Lindsay, how are you? Good.

[A]

Aubrey, how's it going?

[B]

Excellent. I have a question for you.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

What is the biggest culprit that keeps someone from being concise?

[A]

Honestly, probably using too many words. That's a big one. And the more words we use, the less impactful each word becomes.

[B]

So yes, I am guilty of this. I will find myself sort of saying something in a very wordy way and in the middle I'm like, I wish I could just start over and think about this and choose my words and make it more impactful.

[A]

Interesting. It's interesting insight. Yeah, it's true. It happens to me sometimes too. I sometimes I just wish I could stop. Stop talking.

[B]

How do I stop talking without making it super awkward?

[A]

So we're back for a series, part two of our three part series on how to be concise. Concise. Aubry, what did we do on part one?

[B]

Yeah, Part one focused on how we can make our message concise through preparation and sharing only the most important details. So we will share the episode number for that at the end of the episode. Stay to the end. But you can listen to these out of order. So if you missed that one, stay to the end and then be sure. To catch all three for this episode, be sure to hit follow. So you hear part three as well.

[A]

Yes. Hit that follow button. Just go into whatever app you're listening in today and just hit follow and then we'll drop right into your queue. Okay.

[B]

We're talking about vocabulary today, right? Because.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Vocabulary we use is also key to how concise our messages. We often need to eliminate unnecessary words and phrases. And like Lindsay and I were saying, we've all been there where as we're speaking, we're like, I should have said this differently. I maybe should have chosen different words. So sometimes it takes thinking about it ahead of time. What types of words could we eliminate or what types of phrases should we change?

[A]

Yeah, exactly. And the first thing I want to say before we go into any of these vocab strategies, the only way any of this is going to work is by actually trying this multiple times, going out there and getting the raw speaking practice. Right?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

So you have to have had multiple situations. In the first episode, I described a moment when I was moderating a panel that I just kept talking and I knew I was going in the wrong direction, but I couldn't stop because I was nervous. You have to have those moments to be able to correct and become more concise. We can't go from not speaking ever to being perfect. Perfectly concise, Right?

[B]

Yeah. And we're never going to be perfect. Right. We're giving you these great strategies today, but there will continue to be times where maybe for. Because of nerves, maybe because of language, as we're learning, as we're getting better, it's not going to be perfect. Right. But the more you think about language and the things that we can do to be more concise, the more you will be able to hone these skills. Yeah.

[A]

Yes, exactly. Exactly. So let's get into our strategies. Aubrey, what are they?

[B]

All right, the first one is to cut filler words. Right. These likes and other unnecessary fillers. Yes, we all do it, but they can dilute or distract from our message. So we do want to practice, especially when we're saying something. We want to be impactful or powerful. We want to practice eliminating those fillers.

[A]

So we're practicing speaking without having those. Right. We can record ourselves. We can take notes about how many fillers we're using in any given conversation. What else can we do? Aubry?

[B]

Yeah. We can also slow down our speech a little to have a bit of time to know what you are going to say next. This is often advice I give to our students. In our courses, sometimes we have this idea that we need to speak really fast in order to sound more fluent. But if we're not enunciating phonemes, these individual sounds, and if we don't have time to think of what we're going to say next, so then we have a filler sound, or we're pausing and hesitating, we actually sound less fluent. So sometimes slowing down is the key.

[A]

Oh, it's so true. Because when we slow down, we also feel more in control. I think a big part of where filler words come out is when we feel a little out of control. And when we feel we slow down, we take control of the cadence of the rhythm of what we're saying. Right?

[B]

Yeah. And sometimes we're speeding up because we're nervous. Like you were saying, Lindsay, when that happened. This happens to me as well. If I'm nervous, my speech will sometimes speed up, and then I find myself tripping over my words or not knowing what to say next because I'm speaking too quickly for my brain to catch up.

[A]

Yeah. So do you have to find a way to cut off that pattern? Right. It's like I said, it's like a train going off the. Going off the tracks, and you can't stop it, but you can stop it by taking a breath and just slowing down. Even if you feel like the other person, maybe you're being interviewed, maybe you're in a conversation, they're speaking fast. You can take control of the pace of the conversation.

[B]

Right, Exactly. And this will take practicing ahead of time. You will need to practice speaking at a slower pace, knowing that if you're nervous, you're probably going to speak beat up from there. So you have to be intentional about this.

[A]

I love it. Number two, second strategy is avoid being redundant and shorten your phrases. Okay. What does this mean? Practically speaking?

[B]

Yeah. So there are a couple things here, Right. When we think about being redundant, is it about being repetitive? Of course we don't want to repeat words or phrases. If we have sort of gotten our message across and we're just still talking and find ourselves just repeating ourselves. Yes. We want to avoid that. But also, the vocabulary we're using can be redundant. So we have a few examples of phrases that you will hear you might use sometimes. But if you are thinking about saving time or being more concise, there are often shorter options.

[A]

Yeah. Like this one. Due to the fact that. Imagine how. How many brain calories that takes to actually say that. It's a lot, Aubrey. So exactly that.

[B]

Right. If you're at work and someone says, due to the fact that, like, I'm all, oh, man, we just could have saved ourselves five seconds there.

[A]

Bad. It's a bad to start, too, because it gets you off on the wrong track.

[B]

Right, yeah. And you can replace that with the word because. Right. So sometimes we will elevate our language. We're trying to sound more polished, flowery. And sometimes we will end up using these phrases that have quite a bit more words. But if you want to be concise, you can replace that phrase with the word.

[A]

Because I think the key for our listeners here is having the flexibility to choose depending on. Are you presenting, you know, new corporate guidelines or bylaws, then maybe, yeah, you are using something boring, like, due to the fact that. Right, but if you're trying to convince anyone, pull them in, tell a story, persuade them, because.

[B]

Right, exactly. Yes. Right. I think about the story that I told in the last episode that we recorded together about when these teenagers called me Karen. Imagine if during that story I'm like, due to the fact that I was wearing flip flops, they called me Carrot. That would be so strange. Right? It's too formal. It's too long when you're wanting to engage someone in a story. And even at work, sometimes we want to be less formal. Right. Shorten the phrase, use. Because instead.

[A]

Yeah. I wonder what some other examples would be of this, Aubrey? What would be another one?

[B]

So one good example is end result. These words mean the same thing. So sometimes we'll hear people say, the end result is. That's redundant. Right. You can just say the result. The result is.

[A]

That's a good point. I never thought about that. But it is. They essentially mean the same thing, these two words.

[B]

As we do this, we just add words that are unnecessary, that are redundant. Redundant. Another good example is each and every. Right? Each. Already every. So we don't need to say each and every. We just can say every or each.

[A]

It's like a double whammy here, right? It's double bad because not only is it redundant, but it's a cliche too. So it's really bad. Yeah.

[B]

Another good example is when someone says, let's collaborate together. Like you can just say collaborate because in the definition. Right. Is already the fact that we're working together. So we don't.

[A]

That's a really good point. Yeah, that's a really good point. I love it. So that's the second strategy. Avoid being redundant or shorten your phrases. What would be the third thing we could do, Aubrey?

[B]

Yeah. The third is to eliminate unnecessary qualifiers. So as a language learner, you have likely seen this where people will say, don't say, you know, very, very easy. Say this instead. Right. An adjective. That's a more interesting word. So instead of saying it's raining quite hard, maybe you say it's pouring. Right. So these qualifiers, like very quite, really, rather. Yeah, a more interesting word that would replace the qualifier and the other adjective.

[A]

Yeah. And this will help your score on ielts too, Right, Aubrey? If you're taking the IELTS exam. If you are taking the IELTS exam, you should be over listening to IELTS energy, by the way. Right, Aubry?

[B]

Absolutely right. We have episodes every week. Be sure to listen, especially if you're studying for ielts. And I'm glad you're here as well, because you'll learn a lot here on Allers English. That helps you with the IELTS exam. Yeah, but this is one of those where if you say really or very all the time, Low score on ielts and a low score in life, like, that's not an interesting conversation. There are more interesting words.

[A]

You're so right. Low score. It's true. You'll. People will just get bored. Right. And. And the point is, we know that you guys have great stories to share. You want to connect. That's why we're here listening. That's why we learn English, in our opinion. Right. So you have the material, you have the. The expertise, but don't let it get grayed out by using these words, these qualifiers that just bore people.

[B]

Okay, a couple more examples. Instead of saying, this is a very big problem, you could say, this is an enormous problem. Or instead of, she was really angry. She was furious. It usually makes your message more impactful to eliminate that qualifier and definitely makes your speech more concise.

[A]

It's also more fun. It's kind of more fun to say furious than really angry.

[B]

Totally. I agree.

[A]

All right, number four, what should we do? What else can we do? Wow. We got a lot of actionable things tips here.

[B]

So our fourth and final tip is to use stronger verbs. Replace be verbs whenever possible. This is a minor change, but it is more concise, and it often does make your message a little bit stronger. So, for example, instead of saying, there is an opportunity, you could say, we have an opportunity. It's subtle, but it really does change the meaning and make it more concise.

[A]

It seems to make it more personal, too, that what we're doing here, Right?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah. More about you and me, not about what's out There. Abstractly speaking. Right?

[B]

Exactly. Yes.

[A]

Or replace. There are time saving benefits to this versus and say this. We can now save time. Yeah, I like it.

[B]

It's funny if you said more personal. Right. But also more just like action. The eliminate the abstract. Eliminate this general way of speaking.

[A]

Yeah. It's like you would think that, you know, the first one would be better because it feels more academic or more formal. But no, we don't learn language to be academic informal. Unless we're writing a paper.

[B]

We use words. You're writing a research paper or maybe a brochure. That's different.

[A]

Yeah, brochure.

[B]

That's for a very boring company. Exactly. Right.

[A]

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[B]

I. I know I actually have never been to one, but I have a lot of friends that are on school boards or attend the school board meeting. So I. What? They're like, okay, I'll start a dramatic. Yeah, I know everyone is swamped. So thank you for taking the time to be here because we only have 30 minutes. Let's dive right in. Lindsay, we'll give you the floor for the first Agenda item.

[A]

I have an announcement to start us out. Our grant was approved.

[B]

Oh, that's great news. I'm thrilled to hear that.

[A]

Nice concise over here, right? Yes.

[B]

We're being very concise. Right. Our first example, I said, I know everyone is swamped. I could say very busy or everyone has a lot on their to do list. There are many ways to say this that are a lot more words. Yeah, swamped is a great word. One word that means extremely busy.

[A]

Exactly. And then you said because we only have 30 minutes and we're eliminating. Due to the fact that. Or anything more wordy and more formal.

[B]

Right, Exactly. I could say due to the fact that we only have 30 minutes. No. Even though this is a pretty formal meeting, a school board meeting, still save us some time. Because we have 30 minutes. Minutes.

[A]

I know, right?

[B]

Because we only have 30 minutes. Let's not say due to the fact that.

[A]

Exactly. It would be ironic. Right. If you're wasting our time telling us we're going to be efficient. Yes. All right, next one. Aubrey, I said I have an announcement to start us out. That's instead of what?

[B]

Yeah. You're replacing this with a beaver. Maybe there is an announcement. That more general, abstract way of talking. Right. To make it more personal, like you.

[A]

Said, Lindsay, personal is powerful.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Personal is powerful. Yes. And then the last one I. You said, that's great news. I'm thrilled to hear that. And that's instead of what?

[B]

Yeah. Very excited. Right. Thrilled is a great word that replaces excited or happy with a qualifier. And then you'll also notice there are no ums and us here. Right. This is. Even though it's a pretty informal meeting, we still are careful to eliminate those ums and us that are. It saves time. It makes your language more concise.

[A]

Yes. I love it. This is turning out to be a very high level series for our listeners, which I love. I love this. So, guys, go back and check it out. Part one of this series, how to be concise. Part one, direct your message. That is episode 2410. Okay.

[B]

Yes. Scroll up if you missed it and be sure to hit follow so you don't miss part three, which is all about how we can use our grammar to be more concise as well.

[A]

I'm excited.

[B]

I know. I love that too. Right. Not only do you need to think about your message we talked about in part one and the actual phrasing, your vocabulary, also the grammar changes as well.

[A]

Yeah. Any final takeaways on words and how they play a part in being concise?

[B]

Yeah. They just play an enormous role. Right. To think about how it seems subtle but really does make a difference. You will have an impression of someone as being someone who is concise and respects your time, depending on the language, the vocabulary they use.

[A]

Yeah. And I think the other piece of this is consuming a lot of content. Reading a lot. Right. Reading the news, watching tv, watching movies. So then we have those vocabulary words that are more powerful, right?

[B]

Absolutely right. Because in order to eliminate the qualifiers, you do need to know these maybe higher level more interesting words that could replace very easy, very fast. Right. What are those more interesting adjectives?

[A]

Nice. Great stuff, Aubry. Can't wait for the next part three in this series and we'll see you next time.

[B]

Awesome. See you there.

[A]

All right, take care. Bye. Thanks for listening to all ears. English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com fluencyscore and if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.