During that sorting-out process, your reader slows and comprehends less.

Good writers go through the sorting-out process for the reader, so the reader starts on the first sentence and flies through the words, sentence after sentence, because every word connects.

Here are edits WordRake produced while raking one of the many complaints filed against Bernie Madoff and JP Morgan Chase:

Is it possible to get some clarification clarify as to how the fund made money during times of market distress? How did they manage to get better than 3M T-Bill returns? For example, from From April to September 2002, the S&P 100 Index was down 30%, cash yielded 1%, and the Fund was able to generate generated over 6% returns.

That’s 57 words down to 46 words. Not only does the reader now have almost 20% fewer words to read, the reader also does not have to sort through them, searching for the ones with meaning.

Your sentences do not have to be short; you do not have to dumb down your discussion or your vocabulary; but you do have to remove words not conveying meaning. Otherwise, they obscure the words trying to connect with your reader.