George Orwell wrote this essay, “Politics and the English Language,” in 1946, complaining about how modern English has gone astray. He parodies a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes to show just how bad modern English has become. Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to … George Orwell’s Rules for Writing
Go to one of your favorite Web sites and scrutinize every image. Does it add to the story? Does it detract from the story? Does it fit? Is it a clean image without extra details? Jot down your critique of the images overall. Then make notes of any images that could be simplified
Print out a Web story you have written. Read through your sentences and highlight or circle any form of the verb “to be.” Be sure to highlight all forms of the verb (to be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been, be). Then, rewrite each sentence that uses to be, substituting an active verb.