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:

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; and
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

You can read more here.

(ljs)