How to write good - FOG

How to write good

1. Remember Subject and verb always has to agree.

2. Remember When dangling, watch your participles.

3. Remember Do not use a foreign term when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.

4. Remember If you must use a foreign term, it is de rigour to spell it correctly.

5. Remember It behoves the writer to avoid archaic expressions.

6. Remember Do not use hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it effectively.

7. Remember Mixed metaphors are unstable foundations for flights of fancy.

8. Remember Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct.

9. Remember Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.

10. Remember Consult the dictionary frequently to avoid mispelling.

11. Remember Don't use tautological pleonasms.

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How to write good - FOG

12. Remember Don't repeat yourself and avoid being repetitive.

13. Remember Puns are for children, not for readers who are groan.

14. Remember Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.

15. Remember Don't use no double negatives.

16. Remember Proofread carefully to see if you have any words out

17. Remember Hopefully, you will use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.

18. Remember Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

19. Remember Avoid colloquial stuff.

20. Remember No sentence fragments.

21. Remember Always finish what you sta

22. Remember Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

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How to write good - FOG

23. Remember Avoid clichs like the plague. (They're old hat.)

24. Remember Employ the vernacular.

25. Remember Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

26. Remember Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.

27. Remember It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

28. Remember Contractions aren't necessary.

29. Remember One should never generalise.

30. Remember "Don't use unattributed quotations"

31. Remember Avoid quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me

what you know."

32. Remember Comparisons are as bad as clichs.

33. Remember Never use two words where a single expression will do.

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How to write good - FOG

34. Remember Be more or less specific.

35. Remember Understatement is always best.

36. Remember One-word sentences? Eliminate.

37. Remember Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

38. Remember The passive voice is to be avoided.

39. Remember Who needs rhetorical questions?

40. Remember Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

41. Remember It is recommended that measures should be taken to ensure that the length of

sentences is not excessive and that the complexity of said sentences is reduced.

42. Remember Refrain from being indirect.

43. Remember Never insult the bunch of morons that make up your readership.

44. Remember Abstraction is to be avoided.

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How to write good - FOG

45. Remember The writer should not annoy half of his readers by using gender-specific

language.

46. Remember The recommendation is for the use of verbs rather than nouns.

47. Remember Spelling chequers all ways get it write.

48. Finally ... Remember Always cite the sources of any material you have lifted.

(i.e. we apologise to the author(s) of most of the maxims above, but we don't

know your name(s)...)

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