10 Rules for Writers

Posted by Ian McKenzie
Written on June 13, 2008

Posted in

  1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
  2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
  3. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
  4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
  5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
  6. Be more or less specific.
  7. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
  8. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
  9. No sentence fragments.
  10. Don’t use no double negatives.
  11. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

IF you want a better approach to these rules, check out William Safire’s Rules for Writers.

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    Comments

    I swear, every journalism lecturer has a basement full of these lists, printed. In journo school we got a different one for every course, every semester. Loving the “learn-by-example” vibe ;)

    Comment by Joel Falconer on June 13, 2008 @ 8:35 am

    If I recall correctly, I was given this list by my grade 12 English teacher and that wasn’t yesterday. ;)

    Comment by Ian McKenzie on June 13, 2008 @ 8:52 am

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