In his essay "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell offers six simple rules for good writing. The full essay is posted on our class Blackboard site. If you haven't read it before, please do.
And here are the rules. These rules are as essential as looking both ways before you cross the street. Memorize them. Live them. Love them. Post them on your fridge. On your mirror. On your forehead. Everywhere.
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.
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