Dear Don,
While Strunk &White may not take their own advice in every respect, I find their advice helpful.
Strunk & White do alright — especially the revised 4th edition. George Orwell (1946) was even more concise in his six rules:
• 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 (see Short words).
• If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out (see Unnecessary words).
• Never use the Passive where you can use the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a Jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous (see Iconoclasm).
The Economist Style Guide (The Economist 2014) explains these issues at greater length. I will stop here.
Yours,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Elsevier in Cooperation with Tongji University Press | Launching in 2015
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References
Orwell, George. 1946. “Politics and the English Language.” Accessible at URL: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
Accessed 2014 September 18.
Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. 1999. The Elements of Style. 4th edition. Foreword by Roger Angell. Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon. Accessible at URL:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elements-Style-William-Strunk-Jr/dp/020530902X/
Accessed 2014 September 18.
The Economist. 2014. The Economist Style Guide. Accessible at URL:
http://www.economist.com/styleguide/introduction
Accessed 2014 September 18.
—
Don Norman wrote:
—snip—
I've actually considerably improved Strunk and White by editing it, following the guidelines I learned from Strunk and White. (Who seemed to be saying "do what I say, not what I do.")
—snip—
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