Concreteness

Concreteness

Using precise terms and actual things rather than vague terms or abstract things.

Concrete words have specific meanings. An example might be "instructor", a person whose role is to instruct others on a skill or topic.

Abstract words are not concrete; they are commonly names for qualities and attributes. An example might be "a good instructor", where good is not concrete. We can't be sure what "good" means as it is a quality that is only clear to each of us. Therefore, it is abstract or vague.

Use examples to help with vague and abstract terms, so that your receivers know what you mean. In the table below, you'll see a sentence which is not concrete, the reason why, and a way to fix it.

Not concrete	Reason	Concrete
They are really smart.	What does smart mean?	They are smart, which they show by asking useful questions, using feedback to improve, and developing relationships with people.
Your writing is great.	What is great writing?	Your writing shows clarity, conciseness, and reader focus.
Your presentation skills need to be better.	What does better mean?	You can improve your presentation skills by looking at your audience, increasing the volume, and slowing down your speed.
It was big.	How big?	It was at least 6 feet long. It was as big as a wolf standing on its back legs

As readers we can't get the same information we can in speaking. When talking to others, we use tone to describe feeling. So, we can say "The class was interesting" to mean the class was positive or negative. As writers, tone can be difficult to achieve, so we need to expand our ideas to provide concreteness, and this concreteness can improve clarity.

Abstract ideas made concrete

Help people by giving them terms they can visualize or imagine easily ¹.

Love is an abstract term. Here's how you can make it more concrete.

• Love is when your partner asks you to do something and you do it.

• Love is caring for someone when they are sick.

• Love is listening.

Use things your audience can relate to

When pitching webapp ideas in some courses, it can be difficult for people to know what your product does. One way to make your ideas concrete is to relate your idea to things your audience already knows. Here's an example:

Example concrete webapp pitch

"It's like Facebook marketplace just for cars."

"It's like Craigslist with a fantastic user interface."

Adding the extra information gives your audience something they recognize, so they can imagine your idea more clearly than if you said "It's a place to sell cars".

Use active voice to improve concreteness

Active voice makes writing more direct, and it can also make writing more concrete. Look at the two examples below.

Passive voice lacks concreteness

A decision was made to reduce the number of assignments you will receive this coming November.

As a reader, we may be more focused on what the sentence means for us. In concrete terms, what does this mean for me?

Active voice improves concreteness

You will have two assignments from November 1.

Using the active voice makes the content not only more concrete, but clearer too. Adding specific numbers makes it more specific.

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