I saw this in the September Reader's Digest and I found it very clever and entertaining, and so fellow bloggers, I share with you, "You, too, can be a gooder writer":
Avoid cliches like the plague--they're old hat.
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
Be more or less specific.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Tips courtesy of plainlanguage.gov
3 comments:
I need to work on these (you see, I love parantheses).
What sound advice! So funny!
Don't use no double negatives.
Don't never use no triple negatives.
It behooves us to avoid archaisms.
All yours (and mine) are actually from William Safire's book "Fumble Rules" in which he lays out about 30 rules, of course breaking the rule as he lays it out. Each rule is followed by an essay explaining how/why to follow it (and within the essay he uses perfect grammar...except of course for consistently breaking the rule that he's writing about. :)
It's a great book
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