

Politics and the English Language - sciolizer
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

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byteCoder
Although an interesting essay, I find it a bit ironic that Orwell violates
some of his own guidelines in it.

Let's face it, corporate-speak and government-speak sucks.

Writing can be a high bandwidth form of communication. You must write clearly
and concisely to most efficiently transfer your ideas to the reader's mind.

If your reader doesn't understand what you've written, then you've failed at
writing's primary purpose: communication.

~~~
gojomo
_Orwell violates some of his own guidelines in it_

Do you have examples in mind? (He probably does, but I hadn't noticed anything
blatant in previous reads.)

~~~
dangph
"(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active."

In the following passage Orwell is describing a particular type of bad
writing. Notice however that every single sentence is passive. Notice
especially the first sentence. It contains an irony bomb.

"In addition, the passive voice is wherever possible used in preference to the
active, and noun constructions are used instead of gerunds ( _by examination
of_ instead of _by examining_ ). The range of verbs is further cut down by
means of the _-ize_ and _de-_ formations, and the banal statements are given
an appearance of profundity by means of the _not un-_ formation. Simple
conjunctions and prepositions are replaced by such phrases as _with respect
to, having regard to, the fact that, by dint of, in view of, in the interests
of, on the hypothesis that;_ and the ends of sentences are saved by anticlimax
by such resounding commonplaces as _greatly to be desired, cannot be left out
of account, a development to be expected in the near future, deserving of
serious consideration, brought to a satisfactory conclusion_ , and so on and
so forth."

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jraines
I consider this essay, "The Elements of Style", and "Simple and Direct" by
Jacques Barzun to be the Holy Trinity of guidance on clear, straightforward
writing.

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copper
Violates his own guidelines? Orwell adds to his list of rules

....(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

