The Points of Writing

Extracted from his essays on why he wrote, and the problems he identified and solutions he suggested to writing well, here are George Orwell’s main points on writing.

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There are four great motives for writing^*1,

• • Sheer egoism.

  • Aesthetic enthusiasm

  • Historical impulse.

  • Political purpose

“One can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one’s own personality. Good prose is like a windowpane.”

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Modern English^*2, especially written English, is full of bad habits:

Two qualities are common to all of them:

• • The first is staleness of imagery;

  • the other is lack of precision.

The tricks by means of which the work of prose-construction is habitually dodged:-

• • Dying metaphors

  • Operators, or verbal false limbs

  • Pretentious diction

  • Meaningless words

“By using stale metaphors, similes and idioms, you save much mental effort, at the cost of leaving your meaning vague…”

The defence of the English language:–

• has nothing to do with archaism
• is especially concerned with the scrapping of every word or idiom which has outworn its usefulness
• has nothing to do with correct grammar and syntax, which are of no importance so long as one makes one’s meaning clear
• is not concerned with fake simplicity

How it is done?

• let the meaning choose the word
• choose – not simply accept – the phrases that will best cover the meaning
• decide what impression one’s words are likely to make on another person

Scrupulous writers, in every sentence that they write, will ask themselves at least four questions:

• 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?

Two more that they may ask are:

• Could I put it more shortly?
• Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

Consequently there are ways to write well. The following rules will cover most cases:

• Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

• Never use a long word where a short one will do.

• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

• Never use the passive where you can use the active.

• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

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Sources:

*1 From “Why I Write”, Gangrel No.4, Summer 1946. Item 3007 in the Complete Works of George Orwell, edited by Professor Peter Davison.

*2 From “Politics and the English Language”, Horizon, April 1946. Item 2815 in the Complete Works of George Orwell, edited by Professor Peter Davison.

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