{"id":21,"date":"2011-01-06T20:38:54","date_gmt":"2011-01-06T20:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/?p=21"},"modified":"2015-04-27T12:42:47","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T19:42:47","slug":"40-tips-for-proper-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/01\/40-tips-for-proper-english\/","title":{"rendered":"40 Tips for Proper English"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>40 Tips for Proper English<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1.\u00a0 Avoid alliteration.\u00a0 Always.<br \/>\n2.\u00a0 Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.<br \/>\n4.\u00a0 Employ the vernacular.<br \/>\n5.\u00a0 Eschew ampersands &amp; abbreviations, etc.<img decoding=\"async\" title=\"More...\" src=\"..\/wp-includes\/js\/tinymce\/plugins\/wordpress\/img\/trans.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n6.\u00a0 Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.<!--more--><br \/>\n7.\u00a0 Remember to never split an infinitive.<br \/>\n8.\u00a0 Contractions aren&#8217;t necessary.<br \/>\n9.\u00a0 Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.<br \/>\n10. One should never generalize.<img decoding=\"async\" title=\"More...\" src=\"http:\/\/phoenixtechpubs.wordpress.com\/wp-includes\/js\/tinymce\/plugins\/wordpress\/img\/trans.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n11. Eliminate quotations.\u00a0 As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, &#8220;I hate quotations.\u00a0 Tell me what you know.&#8221;<br \/>\n12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.<br \/>\n13. Don&#8217;t be redundant; don&#8217;t use more words than necessary; it&#8217;s highly superfluous.<br \/>\n14. Be more or less specific.<br \/>\n15. Understatement is always best.<br \/>\n16. One-word sentences?\u00a0 Eliminate.<br \/>\n17. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.<br \/>\n18. The passive voice is to be avoided.<br \/>\n19. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.<br \/>\n20. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.<br \/>\n21. Who needs rhetorical questions?<br \/>\n22. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.<br \/>\n23. Don&#8217;t never use a double negation.<br \/>\n24. capitalize every sentence and remember always end it with point<br \/>\n25. Do not put statements in the negative form.<br \/>\n26. Verbs have to agree with their subjects.<br \/>\n27. Proofread carefully to see if you words out.<br \/>\n28. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.<br \/>\n29. A writer must not shift your point of view.<br \/>\n30. And don&#8217;t start a sentence with a conjunction.<br \/>\n(Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)<br \/>\n31. Don&#8217;t overuse exclamation marks!!<br \/>\n32. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.<br \/>\n33. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.<br \/>\n34. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.<br \/>\n35. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.<br \/>\n36. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.<br \/>\n37. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.<br \/>\n38. Always pick on the correct idiom.<br \/>\n39. The adverb always follows the verb.<br \/>\n40. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; They&#8217;re old hat; seek viable alternatives.<\/p>\n<address>When Andrea is a Senior Technical Writer at Phoenix Technical Publications. Phoenix Tech Pubs has provided complete technical writing and documentation services in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 25 years.<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>40 Tips for Proper English 1.\u00a0 Avoid alliteration.\u00a0 Always. 2.\u00a0 Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. 4.\u00a0 Employ the vernacular. 5.\u00a0 Eschew ampersands &amp; abbreviations, etc. 6.\u00a0 Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,160],"tags":[17,16,112,15,14],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-andreas-blogs","category-technical-writing-humor-2","tag-english-language","tag-humor","tag-san-francisco-bay-area","tag-tech-writing","tag-technical-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1627,"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/1627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phoenixtechpubs.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}