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Great stuff: 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. 2. Never use a long word where a short one will

Great stuff: 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. 2. Never use 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.

atdt 15y ago
1. Common metaphors are dull. 2. Use short words. 3. When it is possible to cut a word, do. 4. Be active. 5. Hold off on loanwords. 6. Hang the sticklers.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- jodrellblank 15y ago
  0. Stay polite. 1. Avoid common metaphors. 2. Write fewer, shorter, simpler words. 4. Choose the active voice. [edited, see reply]. I enjoy the "say it in fewer words" game, but quite a lot has been lost between the original essay and this sort of summary. As a reminder, it might work, presented to a fresh reader, I doubt if it would.
  - telemachos 15y ago
    >> 4. Choose the active tense You want 'active voice'. Tenses distinguish time, voices distinguish subjects from recipients of action (in English; in other languages there's also a middle voice), moods distinguish the manner in which a verb describes an action (is it a command, a wish, a statement of fact etc.).
cjbprime 15y ago
> Never use the passive where you can use the active. Pretty sure this is written in the passive voice. (The New York Times book review didn't call it "the turgid, self-righteous and philosophically hopeless ‘Politics and the English language’" for nothing.)
- atdt 15y ago
  > Pretty sure this is written in the passive voice. No. > (The New York Times book review didn't call it "the turgid, self-righteous and philosophically hopeless ‘Politics and the English language’" for nothing.) Perhaps not, but I bet they supported that assessment with something more deliberate than a hand-wave to authority.
- wisty 15y ago
  > Never use the passive where you can use the active. It's an imperative. A passive changes a word like "use" or "used" into "was / is used". "He used a passive" becomes "A passive was used". "He will use a passive" becomes "A passive will be used". "Never use a passive" becomes "A passive should never be used". The point of a passive is it obscures (or de-emphasises) the person who is doing something. It's used by scientists to sound more impartial "I derived an equation" becomes "an equation was derived". In some cases, the actor isn't important, but it's often just used to make it sound like all due process was followed (by the person who's trying to avoid getting blamed). And yes, I just used a passive.
derleth 15y ago
> Never use the passive where you can use the active. Or, as Orwell says: > Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Emphasized is in the passive voice; all of it is too long.

atdt 15y ago

1. Common metaphors are dull. 2. Use short words. 3. When it is possible to cut a word, do. 4. Be active. 5. Hold off on loanwords. 6. Hang the sticklers.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
jodrellblank 15y ago
0. Stay polite. 1. Avoid common metaphors. 2. Write fewer, shorter, simpler words. 4. Choose the active voice. [edited, see reply]. I enjoy the "say it in fewer words" game, but quite a lot has been lost between the original essay and this sort of summary. As a reminder, it might work, presented to a fresh reader, I doubt if it would.
- telemachos 15y ago
  >> 4. Choose the active tense You want 'active voice'. Tenses distinguish time, voices distinguish subjects from recipients of action (in English; in other languages there's also a middle voice), moods distinguish the manner in which a verb describes an action (is it a command, a wish, a statement of fact etc.).

cjbprime 15y ago

> Never use the passive where you can use the active. Pretty sure this is written in the passive voice. (The New York Times book review didn't call it "the turgid, self-righteous and philosophically hopeless ‘Politics and the English language’" for nothing.)

atdt 15y ago
> Pretty sure this is written in the passive voice. No. > (The New York Times book review didn't call it "the turgid, self-righteous and philosophically hopeless ‘Politics and the English language’" for nothing.) Perhaps not, but I bet they supported that assessment with something more deliberate than a hand-wave to authority.
wisty 15y ago
> Never use the passive where you can use the active. It's an imperative. A passive changes a word like "use" or "used" into "was / is used". "He used a passive" becomes "A passive was used". "He will use a passive" becomes "A passive will be used". "Never use a passive" becomes "A passive should never be used". The point of a passive is it obscures (or de-emphasises) the person who is doing something. It's used by scientists to sound more impartial "I derived an equation" becomes "an equation was derived". In some cases, the actor isn't important, but it's often just used to make it sound like all due process was followed (by the person who's trying to avoid getting blamed). And yes, I just used a passive.

derleth 15y ago

> Never use the passive where you can use the active. Or, as Orwell says: > Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Emphasized is in the passive voice; all of it is too long.