Politics and the English Language by George Orwell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Read this book based on Economist's recommendation on how to become a better writer, it entails 5 small essays on writing, writers and politics. Liked it, but was expecting something different.

A couple of excerpts i really liked with good advice:

"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? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble."

Basic Rules one should follow
" (i) Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. (ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do. (iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. (iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active. (v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. (vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous."

George Orwell. Politics and the English Language. Distributed Proofreaders Canada. Edición de Kindle.

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