Friday, October 2, 2009

Great Rules of Writing

We found this interesting and we thought that we should share with you. Do you have any personal rules? Please feel free to share!

  • Do not put statements in the negative form.
  • And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
  • If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
  • Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
  • Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
  • De-accession euphemisms.
  • If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
  • Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
  • Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"

7 comments:

  1. Minimal use of past perfect 'had', present continuous 'ing', and adjectives 'ly'.

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  2. lol.
    I do like this.
    I can't stop laughing at the way he so blatantly negates all the "rules" by himself.

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  3. Above all, learn to break these rules!

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Great humour.

    It is best not to be grandiloquent.

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