How to Eschew Obfuscation
Or
Some Basic Rules for Writers
- Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
- Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its not
needed.
- Do not put statements in the negative form.
- Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
- No sentence fragments.
- Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
- Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
- If you reread your work, you will find on rereading, that a great
deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
- A writer must not shift your point of view.
- Eschew dialect, irregardless.
- And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
- Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences,
as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
- Write all adverbial forms correct.
- Write carefully, dangling participants must be avoided.
- Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the language.
- Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
- Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
- Never use repetitive redundancies.
- Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular
nouns in their writing.
- If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, resist hyperbole.
- Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
- Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you are
walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
- Always pick on the correct idiom
- Avoid overuse of "quotation marks."
- Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives.
