Thursday, February 2, 2017
George Orwell’s 6 Rules for Writing in Plain English
At ALI CLE’s Practical Lawyer, Professor Michael Walsh (Villanova) discusses and the six rules and offers thoughts on applying them. The rules are:
- 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; and
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
You can read more here.
(ljs)
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_skills/2017/02/george-orwells-6-rules-for-writing-in-plain-english.html
All great tips. I probably don't focus enough on eliminating clichés -- another point to add to my editing list!
Posted by: Marie | Feb 2, 2017 3:07:18 PM