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.