George Orwell on Style*
“George Orwell” was the pen name of Eric Blair, one of the most brilliant English stylists ever. In his landmark essay “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell wrote, “Modern English prose . . . consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated henhouse.” He concluded: “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.”
But Orwell didn’t just complain. Fortunately, he suggested a number of remedies. His guidelines have become the classic yardstick for a strong and effective writing style.
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 voice when 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.
*Taken from: ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR THE UTTERLY CONFUSED by Laurie Rozakis - 2003 - The McGraw-Hill Companies.
posted by Mr. Wishes @ 3:24 PM
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