Writing tips from Big Brother

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:What am I trying to say?What words will express it?What image or idiom will make it clearer?Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?He will probably ask himself two more:Could I put it more shortly?Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases: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.If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.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. (George Orwell: 12 Writing Tips)

The original essay is Politics and the English Language. "Big Brother" is from Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.