Beknopt Schrijven

Concise writing in Dutch means eliminating wordiness while preserving meaning. At C1 level, you should write clearly and efficiently.

Active vs passive: Active voice is generally more concise: De commissie heeft het rapport goedgekeurd. (active, 7 words) vs Het rapport is door de commissie goedgekeurd. (passive, 8 words). Use passive only when the agent is irrelevant.

Eliminating wordiness:

• op dit moment in de tijd becomes nu (now)
• het is een feit dat becomes just the fact: De werkloosheid stijgt.
• in het geval dat becomes als or indien
• met betrekking tot can often become over or betreffende

Nominalisation reduction: De implementatie van het beleid vond plaats becomes Het beleid werd geïmplementeerd. Verbs are more concise than nominalised forms.

One idea per sentence: Long, complex sentences with multiple subclauses are a sign of C1 writing that needs editing. Break them up: two short sentences are clearer than one long one.

Edit ruthlessly: Read your text aloud. If a word can be removed without changing the meaning, remove it.