Style questions balance concision, precision and tone. Removing words helps when they repeat a meaning already expressed; it hurts when they supply a necessary limit or relationship. Before choosing the shortest version, state the information the revision must preserve.
Reason through the task
Identify repeated ideas, unnecessary introductory phrases and words whose function is already performed elsewhere. Then check whether the remaining wording keeps the actors, timing and degree of certainty. Match the surrounding register: an explanatory passage may need direct neutral language rather than praise or slang. Sometimes a longer choice is better because it prevents ambiguity. Concision means expressing the intended meaning efficiently, not reducing a sentence to the fewest possible words.
Worked example and a tempting error
Original example: “The preliminary results may possibly suggest that the method could be useful under the conditions tested.” A clear revision is “The preliminary results suggest that the method may be useful under the conditions tested.” It reduces stacked uncertainty while retaining preliminary status, possibility and tested conditions. “The method works” is shorter but changes both certainty and scope. Deleting every qualification would strengthen the claim beyond the evidence instead of improving its style.
Try a different case
Transfer: “The two panels were equal in size, and both had the same area.” If size here means area and no other dimensions matter, “The two panels had equal areas” removes repetition precisely. If the experiment separately controls slope or shape, do not imply those conditions merely by saying equal areas. A concise sentence still needs the exact measurement that makes the comparison interpretable.