majiayu000 plain
The reader lacks your context — the curse of knowledge, not word count, is why prose fails. Write as if orienting someone's gaze to a thing they haven't seen yet.
The spine — Orwell, 1946
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- 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.
The sweep — named defects Orwell's rules only gesture at
| Defect | Fix | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Zombie noun — an action embalmed as a noun (-tion, -ment, -ance) | Verb it | "perform validation" → "validate" |
| Buried doer — abstract subject, actor missing or in a by-phrase | Doer as subject, action as verb | "the fix was applied" → "I fixed it" |
| Negative form | State it positively | "not different" → "the same" |
| Hedge — "somewhat", "fairly", "arguably", "should probably" | Cut it or commit | "should probably work" → "works" — or name when it fails |
| Abstract where concrete exists | Name the thing | "the relevant file" → "config.ts" |
| One sentence, two ideas (or 25+ words) | Split it | — |
Technical terms: swap in an everyday word only where precision survives; otherwise keep the term — rule 5 yields to rule 6.
Before delivering
One sweep of the draft against the spine and the table. Rule 6 breaks every tie: clarity beats compliance.