George Orwell wrote a 1946 essay entitled, Politics and the English Language, in which he laid out five rules for effective writing. Here they 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.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright barbarous.
Click here to read Orwell’s original essay: Politics and the English Language
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