Politics and the English Language (HSC SSCE English Advanced): Flashcards
📚Flashcards
Practise the cards
10 cards from this deck
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Practise the cards
10 cards from this deck
Dying metaphors
Dying metaphors
Overused phrases that lost meaning through repetition
Orwell's Rule 2: short vs long words
Orwell's Rule 2: short vs long words
Never use a long word where a short one will do
Latinate polysyllables vs Anglo-Saxon monosyllables
Latinate polysyllables vs Anglo-Saxon monosyllables
Long Latin words vs short Germanic words (e.g. expedite vs speed)
Orwell's Rule 3 about cutting words
Orwell's Rule 3 about cutting words
If you can cut a word out, always cut it out
What verbosity breeds
What verbosity breeds
Vagueness
Orwell's Rule 4: active vs passive voice
Orwell's Rule 4: active vs passive voice
Never use passive where you can use active
What passive voice obscures
What passive voice obscures
Agency (who is doing the action)
Orwell's Rule 5: foreign phrases & jargon
Orwell's Rule 5: foreign phrases & jargon
Avoid if everyday English equivalent exists
Orwell's Rule 6: when to break rules
Orwell's Rule 6: when to break rules
Break any rule sooner than say anything outright barbarous
Orwell's bidirectional thesis
Orwell's bidirectional thesis
Corrupt language corrupts thought; disciplined craft reverses it