Monday, October 02, 2006

George Orwell on writing

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never us a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
"Politics and the English Language", George Orwell.

Technorati Tags: ,

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree. It is all too common to see unnecessarily wordy articles and write-ups these days. The true and simple meaning is all too often hidden in a chaotic mix of lengthy words. Anyway, Orwell is one of my favs. Thanks for the link.