82,882
edits
Murder your darlings: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{ | {{a|plaineenglish|}} | ||
====General Principles==== | ====General Principles==== | ||
*''Avoid [[definitions]]''. Mostly, people can figure out what you mean without doubt from the context. Only use definitions when you are using a word in a specific way that does not align with its ordinary meaning. | *''Avoid [[definitions]]''. Mostly, people can figure out what you mean without doubt from the context. Only use definitions when you are using a word in a specific way that does not align with its ordinary meaning. | ||
**'''Example''': don't define “[[Tax]]” if all you mean by it is ''any tax, duty, excise, deduction, | **'''Example''': don't define “[[Tax]]” if all you mean by it is ''any tax, duty, excise, deduction, withholding, impost. [... improvise freely] ... or levy imposed by a competent authority having power to tax...''. If your construction will, you know, ''show up on the Google'' as a synonym for “tax”, then write “tax”. | ||
====Specific examples==== | ====Specific examples==== | ||
*''[[For the avoidance of doubt]]'': This is an explicit acknowledgment that what you have just written contains doubt. You are a solicitor: a wordwright; an officer of the Queen’s English. You have a qualification in the | *''[[For the avoidance of doubt]]'': This is an explicit acknowledgment that what you have just written contains doubt. You are a solicitor: a wordwright; an officer of the Queen’s English. You have a qualification in the unambiguous conveyance of ideas. Physician, heal thyself. | ||
*'' ... ([[including, without limitation]] ...)'': logically does not, and cannot, add or subtract from the general expression. It is either the statement of the logically inevitable (if the stated instance indeed is an example of the general expression) or it is flat out wrong (if it is not) - in which case ''change the general expression''. | *'' ... ([[including, without limitation]] ...)'': logically does not, and cannot, add or subtract from the general expression. It is either the statement of the logically inevitable (if the stated instance indeed is an example of the general expression) or it is flat out wrong (if it is not) - in which case ''change the general expression''. | ||
*''Use the {{tag|active}} voice''. Ensure the {{tag|passive}} is avoided whenever it is possible for it to be done so. | *''Use the {{tag|active}} voice''. Ensure the {{tag|passive}} is avoided whenever it is possible for it to be done so. | ||