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If you get the chance, read Orwell's "Politics and the English Language." Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to see

If you get the chance, read Orwell's "Politics and the English Language." Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never us a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. Never use the passive where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html

telemachos 16y ago
And then please read this essay from the Language Log in reply (or as a counter-point, at least): http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=992 http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=992.
- deadbadger 16y ago
  I only wish I could up-vote this more. See also this earlier Language Log essay (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003366.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003366.h...), in which Pullum points out that passives occur in "Politics and the English Language" at a considerably higher rate than was typical in contemporary periodicals - Orwell couldn't follow his own advice, even as he was dispensing it. The same goes for Strunk and White, who in the very passage instructing writers to abjure the passive, say: "Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can _be made_ lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as /there is/ or /could be heard/." Still, at least the guide linked in the OP has picked actual examples of the passive voice as illustrations, and concedes that there are times when it can be reasonably used (sorry, "writers can reasonably use it"). This makes it something of a rarity, even if the advice is still poor.
cpeterso 16y ago
I love The Economist's spartan (but cheeky) style guide, which opens with Orwell's six writing rules. This guide is based on the style book which is given to all journalists at The Economist. http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/ http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/ And when you're ready, here is The Economist's style quiz: http://www.economist.com/diversions/quiz.cfm?quizname=stylequiz http://www.economist.com/diversions/quiz.cfm?quizname=styleq...

telemachos 16y ago

And then please read this essay from the Language Log in reply (or as a counter-point, at least): http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=992 http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=992.

deadbadger 16y ago
I only wish I could up-vote this more. See also this earlier Language Log essay (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003366.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003366.h...), in which Pullum points out that passives occur in "Politics and the English Language" at a considerably higher rate than was typical in contemporary periodicals - Orwell couldn't follow his own advice, even as he was dispensing it. The same goes for Strunk and White, who in the very passage instructing writers to abjure the passive, say: "Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can _be made_ lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as /there is/ or /could be heard/." Still, at least the guide linked in the OP has picked actual examples of the passive voice as illustrations, and concedes that there are times when it can be reasonably used (sorry, "writers can reasonably use it"). This makes it something of a rarity, even if the advice is still poor.

cpeterso 16y ago

I love The Economist's spartan (but cheeky) style guide, which opens with Orwell's six writing rules. This guide is based on the style book which is given to all journalists at The Economist. http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/ http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/ And when you're ready, here is The Economist's style quiz: http://www.economist.com/diversions/quiz.cfm?quizname=stylequiz http://www.economist.com/diversions/quiz.cfm?quizname=styleq...