View source for Orwell's Rules of style

The English writer [['George Orwell']] wrote an essay called ''Politics and the English Language'' in  1946.  This is reprinted in ''[[The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell]]''. Orwell's guidance on style was driven, as the title suggests, by a desire to see honest clarity and straightforward expression in politics. It is good advice for all writers of serious formal prose -- as students in [[Higher Education]] should aim to be.

# Never use a [[metaphor]], [[simile]], or other [[figure of speech]] which you are used to seeing in print.
# Never use 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.

:::(For no. 6, cf [[Levin's rule]].)

Possibly the last is the most important for confident writers. It tells us that writing is not a matter of rules. The point of writing is to '''communicate'''.

[[category:good writing]]
[[category: style]]
[[category:academic English]]
[[category:correctness]]