- 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?
Outside of a dog a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
Monday, June 23, 2008
The complete rules for good writing
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writing rules
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