Omit needless words

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. The requires not that the writer make all sentences short, or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

not A but B (in this case A and B are noun clauses)

The requires not that the writer make all sentences short, or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Express coordinate ideas in similar forms

A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraphs no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts

Use the word not as a means of denial or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion

no unnecessary words