IM READING BIG BROTHER

• People believe that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.
• The English language is becoming ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish and the slovenliness of our language makes it easier to have foolish thoughts.
• English language is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and can be avoided if one is willing to take the change.
• Dying Metaphors is a metaphor which is technically 'dead' and has in effect been reverted to an ordinary word.
• Operators or verbal false limbs are phrases that replace simple words such as break, stop, spoil.
• Pretentious diction is when people use words to seem more fancy, smarter, or give an air of culture and elegance.
• Meaningless words are words that don't really have a purpose in a sentence and are just there to add to the sentence.
• Often writers confuse their audience because they use so many euphemisms and other phrases that don't correlate with what they're talking about.
• People write things that can be explained so easily in a much sophisticated way to seem more intelligent.
• Modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in using words that are already known and used by so many people.
• More syllables in sentences are being created because more words are being put in to replace simpler words.
• If you use ready-made phrases, you not only don't have to hunt about for the words; you also don't have to bother with the rhythms of your sentences since these phrases are generally so arranged as to be more or less euphonious.  
• The sole aim of a metaphor is to create a visual image in someone's head.
• It is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of rebel.
• Political language has to consist largely of euphemism and sheer cloudy vagueness because of the awful things that sometimes have to be said.
• If thought can corrupt language, then language can also corrupt thought.
• The worst thing one can do with words is to surrender to them.
• 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 do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out
• Never use the passive when you can use the active.
• These rules demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.
• Language is an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought.