- Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
- Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. (That is something up with which you should not have to put!)
- And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
- It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
- Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
- Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
- Always avoid annoying alliteration. (Almost always.)
- The passive voice is to be avoided.
- Nine: Be consistent.
- Writers should never generalize.
- Don’t use more words than necessary. Don’t repeat. And don’t be redundant. It’s highly superfluous. And unnecessary too. And annoying.
- Also, too, besides, never ever use repetitive redundancies.
- Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
- Don’t never ever use no double negatives.
- Remember “i” before “e” except after “c” (except when eight feisty beige neighbors deign to seize a surfeit of weighty heifers or forfeit weird veins.)
- Up to 25% of people or more write nonsensical sentences.
- No sentence fragments. No comma splices, run-ons are bad too.
- Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary (and not needed.)
- Don’t use no double negatives.
- Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
- One word sentences? Eliminate!
- Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
- Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
- Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
- Kill all exclamation points!!!!!!!
- Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
- Understatement is probably not the best way to propose earth shattering ideas.
- Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
- As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
- If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times; resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
- Puns are for children, not groan readers.
- Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
- Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
- Who needs rhetorical questions?
- Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
- Be more or less specific. More or less all the time.
- Contractions aren’t helpful and shouldn’t be used.
- Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
Adventure is not outside man, but within, for you cannot cross the sea by simply staring at the water.
No comments:
Post a Comment