59 lines
1.4 KiB
Plaintext
59 lines
1.4 KiB
Plaintext
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HOW TO WRITE GOOD
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by Frank L. Visco
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My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:
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1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
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2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
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3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
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4. Employ the vernacular.
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5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
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6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
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7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
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8. Contractions aren't necessary.
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9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
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10. One should never generalize.
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11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:
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"I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
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12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
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13. Don't be redundant; don't more use words than necessary;
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it's highly superfluous.
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14. Profanity sucks.
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15. Be more or less specific.
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16. Understatement is always best.
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17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
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18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
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19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
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20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
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21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
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22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
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23. Who needs rhetorical questions?
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--------
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Frank L. Visco is a vice-president and senior copywriter at USAdvertising.
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