ShmoopTube

00:03

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by predators. Who says they don't give back?

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How would you correct this underlined segment from the passage, if at all?

00:22

webs with which to catch prey

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And here are the potential answers...

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Let's dive right into this one...

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...hoping against hope there're no spider webs where we land.

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Options (C) and (D) seem like obvious eliminations to us.

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Each answer choice is super wordy. As writers, it's important to always use as few words as possible.

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If we use too many unnecessary words, people lose the thread of what we're trying to say.

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Of course, the shortest option isn't always the best either.

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If we trim the wordage down too much, people won't understand what we're saying either.

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Shorter isn't always better.

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Take option (B) for example.

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(B) might look the best because it's the shortest, and we are usually looking for the most concise

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choice, but "prey catching" is an awkward phrasing.

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If we tell somebody we're going "prey catching" for the day, it's pretty much guaranteed we'll

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get an awkward look.

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And possibly some unwanted attention from local law enforcement.

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The best answer is (A). It's specific and no wordier than it needs to be.

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OK, check you later. We've got some prey catching to do.

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Whoops, did we say that out loud?

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