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Emil Pocock, History and American Studies, Eastern
Connecticut State
University
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Based on William Safire, "On Language," New York Times Magazine, Nov. 4, 1979, p. 16. 1.
Remember to never
split an infinitive. 7. Do not put statements in the negative form when they can be written positively. 8. A subject have to agree with their verb and possessives. 9. No sentence fragments! 10. Proofread carefully to discover if any words left out. 11. If
you
reread
your work, you will often find that on rereading that a great deal of
needless
repetition can be 12. A writer must not shift your point of view. 13. Eschew dialect, irregardless of how often you see it in print. 14. And never start a sentence with a conjunction. 15. Do not overuse exclamation points!!! 16. Place
pronouns
as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of ten or more
words,
to their 17. Hyphenate between syllables and avoid un-necessary hyphens. 18. Write all adverbial forms correct. 19. Don't use contractions in formal writing. 20.
Writing
carefully,
dangling participles can be avoided. 23. Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck into the language. 24. Take
the
bull
by the horns and avoid the can of worms that results from mixed
metaphors. 26.
Never,
ever use
repetitive redundancies. 28. An author should be careful to use singular pronouns with singular nouns in their writing. 29. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist the hyperbole. 30. Also, always avoid awkward or affected alliteration. 31. Do
not
string
too many prepositional phrases together except to demonstrate a
point about
the structure 32. Always pick on the correct idiom. 33. Avoid overuse of "quotation" marks. 34. It should be noted that it is unnecessary to call special attention to any statement. 35. The adverb always follows the verb. 36. Underlining is not a good way to indicate emphasis. 37. Spell checkers do not always choose the write word. 38. Prepositions at the end of sentences do not work out. 39. A careful writer can avoid gender traps without introducing awkward usages into her or his prose. 40. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives. |