Concise sentences cut the waffle is the B2 writing skill that teaches what to remove rather than what to add. The technique identifies common padding patterns — redundant pairs (future plans, brief summary, true facts), empty intensifiers (very, really, quite, somewhat), throat-clearing openers (It should be noted that, It is interesting to consider), passive-voice padding (It was decided that the team would), and wordy alternatives to single verbs (make a decision → decide, give consideration to → consider). Learners build the editing skill that distinguishes professional writing from student writing.
This worksheet builds B2 writing fluency with editing-for-concision.
Worksheet preview
What’s inside:
- A reference table of padding patterns and their concise alternatives
- Editing drills: cut redundancy from sample sentences
- Rewriting task: tighten a wordy paragraph by 25%
- Multiple-choice on most concise version of the same content
- Original-writing task: write a 200-word version of a topic, then edit to 150 words
- Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes
Common challenges: Knowing what to cut at B2 — every word should earn its place. Redundancy detection: doubled adjectives, padded openers, intensifier overuse. Recognising that shorter is usually stronger in professional and academic writing.
For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B2, in upper-intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Maps onto Cambridge B2 First (FCE) Writing and C1 Advanced (CAE) Writing assessment criteria. Part of the Sentence Building & Style collection — the natural next step is Text-Level Cohesion and Coherence, which extends concise writing into multi-paragraph organisation.
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