The 40 tells · Words · No. 05
Why "empower" makes writing sound machine-made
Flagged "Empower"
"Empower" is a big word for "let" or "help". It shows up in mission statements and product pages that want to sound important, and it puts the company at the centre: the business is doing the empowering.
Say what the person can now do. That is shorter and it is the part they care about.
Before
We empower small businesses to take control of their finances.
After
See what's coming in and going out this month, on one screen, without a bookkeeper.
The fix
Swap it for the concrete thing. What does it do, in words a buyer can check?
Write this instead
- let
- help
- so you can
- or name the thing they can now do
What the checker matches
Any of these, in any case:
- empower
- empowers
- empowering
- empowered
- empowerment