The Paramedic Method
Updated 2026-07-31
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
The Paramedic Method is a revision technique introduced by Richard Lanham in Revising Prose (1979). Its steps are mechanical: circle every preposition, circle every form of the verb to be, find the real actor, make that actor the subject, make the action the verb, then delete the slow wind-up at the start of the sentence. Lanham pairs it with the lard factor, the proportion of words that can be cut without losing meaning. The method is diagnostic rather than stylistic, targeting nominalization and passive construction, the two structures that make institutional writing unreadable.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Diagnose density: count prepositions and forms of to be to locate dead sentences. - Restore the actor: ask who is doing what, then rebuild the sentence around it. - Cut the wind-up: delete the opening clause that delays the real subject.
Anchor fast decisions
Nominalization turns verbs into abstract nouns, which removes the agent and forces prepositions and forms of to be to hold the sentence together. The reader must then reconstruct who did what, spending attention on parsing rather than meaning. Restoring actor and action lowers that processing cost, so the sentence reads as energy rather than stasis. Because the markers are countable, the diagnosis needs no taste or training.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- owl.purdue.eduhttps://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/paramedic_method.htmlverified
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