Easy-to-process things feel truer, safer, and more appealing.
More quotes“A decision was made” contains one more word than “we decided” and one fewer culprit. That is why official prose adores it. The action appears fully dressed; the people responsible have slipped out through a side door.
The same laundering produces “a delay was experienced”, “an adverse outcome occurred” and “your application was not progressed”. Nobody delayed anything. Nobody rejected anyone. Events descended upon the organisation like weather, complete with reference number.
Pinker’s shorter alternatives—if for in the event that, can for is capable of being—do more than save space. They remove ceremony between the reader and the action. That matters on a benefits form, a hospital letter or a debt notice. The person decoding “at such time as” is spending effort created solely by the writer’s desire to sound official.
Long phrases also hide weak claims. “Have a facilitative impact” avoids promising that something will help. “Was subject to an adverse outcome” avoids saying who refused it. Replace the verbal upholstery and an awkward sentence appears: “Finance rejected your request on 4 June.” Actor, action, object, date. The reader can challenge it.
Law, medicine and science require precise distinctions, and precise distinctions sometimes need more words. Pomposity contributes no such information. Ask who did what to whom, then write those words. A politically uncomfortable revision often identifies the actor and decision the reader needed to know.