One of the most overwhelmingly difficult parts of mastering essay writing is the art of succinctness. Many students tend to "waffle on" with their responses and extend a one sentence point into three sentences.
This post will cover 2 main reasons why: tautology and passive voice.
Tautology is basically the act of repeating yourself.
Examples:
I returned back home.
The plane rose up into the sky.
She was more taller than her sister.
How many times have you repeated your idea in fear that the marker will not understand it the first time? How many times have you written a sentence that was just a reworded version of previous sentences? You must let go of the fear to stop sounding repetitive.
Passive voice is created when the subject has the verb performed on them. Active voice is when the subject performs the verb.
Active: I ate cake
Passive: The cake was eaten
As you can see, passive voice takes up more space than active voice. It also has the effect of sounding tentative and vague. In an essay, you need to sound sure of your argument and deliver it without any word wastage. This is why active voice is always preferred and passive voice should mostly be avoided.
Make sure you look over everything you write with these tips in mind!