Posts Tagged George Orwell
Politics and the English Language, Rule 5
Posted by yoursinwriting in Writing Tips on April 21st, 2009
Rule 5: Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Nobody likes a know-it-all. For convenience’s sake, let’s refer to all language that may baffle your readers as “jargon.” Orwell feels that using jargon is “never” a good idea. In the best case, a Read the full article…
Politics and the English Language, Rule 4
Posted by yoursinwriting in Writing Tips on April 14th, 2009
Rule 4: “Never use the passive where you can use the active.”
For most people, identifying passive voice is like finding a dangling participle in a metaphorical haystack. Let’s look at an example:
Active voice:
Andy embraced Vivian.
Passive voice:
Vivian was embraced by Andy.
Not only does the active voice usually require fewer words (making it play nice with Rule 3), Read the full article…
Politics and the English Language, Rule 3
Posted by yoursinwriting in Writing Tips on April 7th, 2009
Get out your scissors for George Orwell’s 3rd rule for better writing.
Politics and the English Language, Rule 2
Posted by yoursinwriting in Writing Tips on March 30th, 2009
This post is part of a series dedicated to George Orwell’s essay Politics and the English Language.
Rule 2: “Never use a long word where a short one will do.”
There is an important nuance to this rule: Orwell urges for truth through clarity, but not at the expense of the message. He is not suggesting avoiding Read the full article…
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