> This phrasing makes it clear that the goal of that edit is to eliminate every unnecessary words. By your own interpretation, we can get rid of "ruthlessly",

> This phrasing makes it clear that the goal of that edit is to eliminate every unnecessary words. By your own interpretation, we can get rid of "ruthlessly", no? > This phrasing implies that just one edit is needed I don't think it does, even when disconnected from the rest of the sentence. It's fairly clear to me that it's talking about an edit where you "eliminat[e] unnecessary words" which may or may not be part of a greater editing process.