George Orwell's 5 Rules for Effective Writing


	George Orwell's 5 Rules for Effective Writing

shelleyinc

6-4-2007 8:52 AM

456 views

tags:

rules, writing, orwell

shelleyinc says:

Rules that will undoubtedly improve your (fictional) writing.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/cc73aecb-f080-4bfb-9917-7c1dc6d9ce14/9807C0BD-9302-4B35-A768-A211396A1BC9/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/" href="http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.pickthebrain.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/"><H1>George Orwell’s 5 Rules for Effective Writing</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/"><STRONG>1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.</STRONG></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/"><STRONG>2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.</STRONG></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/"><STRONG>3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.</STRONG></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/"><STRONG>4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.</STRONG></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/george-orwells-5-rules-for-effective-writing/"><P><STRONG>5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.</STRONG></P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/9807C0BD-9302-4B35-A768-A211396A1BC9/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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