What Is The Single Most Important Rule For Writing Clear English?

The most important thing is to say exactly what you mean; and the easiest way to be sure that you do this is to use concrete terms whenever possible.
Broadly, there are two kinds of word: content (or "meaning") words, and structure or "grammar" words. Take the following sentence: "The thing to bear in mind when writing is that you ought to get to the essential point as quickly as possible." Of these 22 words, 10 are purely structure (i.e., they mean nothing at all on their own) and several of the content words are unnecessary here too (thing, bear, mind, essential...) The message can be conveyed in just 7 words: "When writing, get to the point quickly." Only two structure words - "to the" - are needed here. The result is a sentence consisting mainly of meaningful words and giving no unnecessary information - the basis of any good writing style.

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