Monday, June 23, 2008

The complete rules for good writing

  • A writer should not annoy half of his readers by using gender-specific language.
  • Always finish what you star
  • Avoid overuse of ampersands & abbreviations etc.
  • Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
  • Always avoid annoying alliteration.
  • Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
  • Always pick on the correct idiom.
  • A writer must not shift your point of view.
  • Avoid cliches like the plague - they're so old hat.
  • Be more-or-less specific.
  • Consult the dictonary frequently to avoid mispeling.
  • Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
  • Contractions aren't necessary.
  • Do not use, unnecessary, commas.
  • Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
  • Do not use hyperbole; not even one in a million can do it effectively.
  • Don't repeat yourself and avoid being repetitive.
  • Don't use no double negatives.
  • Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
  • Don't indulge in sesquipedalian lexicological constructions.
  • Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!
  • Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
  • 'Don't use unattributed quotations.'
  • Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, 'I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.'
  • Eschew obfuscation.
  • Employ the vernacular.
  • Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
  • Exaggeration is a million times worse than understatement.
  • Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
  • Hopefully, you will use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
  • It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
  • If you reread and reread your work and reread it again to weed out the weeds of repetition.
  • If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
  • It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.
  • It is recommended that measures should be taken to ensure that the length of sentences is not excessive and that the complexity of said sentences is reduced.
  • Never use a big word where a diminutive alternative would suffice.
  • No sentence fragments.
  • Never use two words where a single expression will do.
  • One should never generalize.
  • One-word sentences? Eliminate. Always!
  • Parenthetical marks, however relevant, are unnecessary.
  • Parenthetical words like these should be enclosed in commas.
  • Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
  • Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of ten or more words, to their antecedents.
  • Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct.
  • Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
  • Refrain from being indirect.
  • Subject and verb always has to agree.
  • The recommendation is for the use of verbs rather than nouns.
  • Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
  • The passive voice is to be ignored and should not be used.
  • Understatement is always best by far.
  • Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
  • Use youre spell chekker to avoid mispelling and to catch typographical errers; thay always get it write.
  • When dangling, watch you participles.
  • Who needs rhetorical questions?

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