Writing Tips
² Write unto others as you would have them write unto you.
² Trim fat words.
² Dump awkward phrases.
² Avoid using comparative or relative words whose meaning depend on your readers’ subjective interpretations of quality or quantity.
² Avoid using words that imply value judgment without specifying what the value is, compared with what, or who is making the judgment.
² Use words to express rather than to impress (in other words, use big words only when absolutely necessary).
² Follow a grammatical subject as soon as possible with its verb.
² Subjects and verbs even when separated by a word string have to agree.
² Don’t kill verbs by turning them into nouns.
² Remove as many abstract nouns (e.g. –ions such as complication, dedication, identification) as you can.
² Use active verbs.
² Passive verbs attract abstract noun and awkward constructions, avoid them.
² Liberate disguised verbs.
² Use dependent clauses instead of prepositional phrases.
² Avoid strings of adjectives.
² In formal scientific writing, do not use contractions or exclamation points.
² A writer who uses hyperbole will come to grief.
