One of my top tips comes from an extraordinary man. Joseph W Pulitzer arrived in the USA as a German-speaking immigrant and went on to command one of the greatest newspaper empires ever seen, even when his sight failed and he could see none of what his journalists produced.
Joseph W Pulitzer: “Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.”
Perfect. But when it comes to how to get there, Orwell nailed it. I often use his words to play a little game with my new undergraduate students. I’ve replaced one word in the Orwell text below, and it’s poorly chosen. See if you can spot it.
Orwell’s 6 Rules
From “Politics and the English Language”
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will suffice.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
I’d bet that Orwell was really writing this for himself, because writing well is never easy. Anyone who thinks their writing cannot be improved is almost certainly fooling themselves.
Grammar. I went to a grammar school in the 1970s, and oddly learnt nothing about grammar. It was only when learning to teach English as a foreign language, in Spain, that I realised how little I knew. Worse, I realised that other Europeans study grammar and understand the building blocks of language. The UK has got better at it, if the university students I have taught are anything to go by. Over 18 years of teaching, the standard of English improved with each new intake.
But we all need help. Try Eats Shoots and Leaves. Also, my students (especially those for whom English is not their first language) find Grammarly a fine tool.