Bonus:
Would Orwell agree with Kevin's dialect? Why, or why not?
Summary: Lazy thinking leads to writing/speaking, which leads to lazy thinking.
Commentary:
Made it all of five pages into the intro to Animal Farm when I found a reference to it. Found it online and read it on my lunch break. I liked it. The basic thesis about lazy thinking and writing is very relevant to this blog. If you can't be bothered to actually organize your own thoughts, how can they be original?
Orwell gives five basic rules:
i. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
ii. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
iii. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
iv. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
v. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
vi. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
It's funny how closely they parallel William Strunk's famous "Elementary Principals of Composition."
8. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic
9. As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with the beginning
10. Use the active voice
11. Put statements in positive form
12. Use definite, specific, concrete language
13. Omit needless words
14. Avoid a succession of loose sentences
15. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form
16. Keep related words together
17. In summaries, keep to one tense
18. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end
The green highlights aren't explicitly in Orwell's rules, but are in line with things he says throughout the essay.
No comments:
Post a Comment