Shortens

Shortens is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb shorten. Shorten means to make something shorter in length, duration, or extent, or to reduce the amount of time required for a process. Shortens is used when describing a subject performing the action of reducing length, such as editing text, trimming a schedule, or reducing the physical size of an object. It can be transitive, as in The editor shortens the article by removing redundant paragraphs, or intransitive, as in The days shorten in winter.

Grammatical notes: The principal parts of the verb are shorten (infinitive), shortened (past tense and past participle), shortening (present participle/gerund), and shortens (third-person singular present). The sense is versatile and can be applied to literal length, duration, or figurative measures of extent, such as shortening a speech, a deadline, or a route.

Usage contexts: In editing, writing, and publishing, to shorten means to condense content. In scheduling or planning, it refers to reducing the time allotted. In physics or materials contexts, it can describe reducing physical dimensions. In everyday speech, it may describe any act of making something longer in time or space shorter.

Etymology: The verb short en is formed from the adjective short with a productive English suffix -en, a common pattern for creating verbs that express making or becoming. It appears in Middle and Modern English texts as the language developed ways to express the act of reducing length.

See also: shorten, shortening, truncation, abridge.