The Reality of Language
Orwell's Rules on
Writing
Orwell's Rules on Writing
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.
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which
you are used to seeing in print.
As blind as a bat
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
Never utilize an
extended word where a
more miniscule one will
suffice
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out
‘Cut every word you can’
‘Cut every cuttable word’
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active
Who wrote the paper?
The paper was written by me
I wrote the paper
The subject of the
sentence does the verb
to the object.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon
word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
"Savings on the core grant-in-aid delivering the Change-Up
programme, against the counterfactual of an inflationary
increase and reprioritisation of the OTS budget to fund a
wider range of investment programmes from the 2007-08
baseline amount to around £4.8m realised in 2008-09." - extract
from the Cabinet Office's 2008-09 annual report
6. Break any of these rules
sooner than say anything
outright barbarous.
“A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure,
and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is
rather the same thing that is happening to the English language.
It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish,
but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have
foolish thoughts.” - George Orwell