6 nguyên tắc viết văn của George Orwell

Hôm nay đọc bài này ở The Economist, chia sẻ các bạn 'bài vỡ lòng' langdu học viết luận văn bằng tiếng Anh khi ở Nhật Bản.

The first requirement is that it should be readily understandable. Clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible. Keep in mind George Orwell's six elementary rules ("Politics and the English Language", 1946):

1/ Never use a Metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2/ Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3/ If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out.
4/ Never use the Passive where you can use the active.
5/ Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a Jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6/ Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous

Thêm bài phong cách viết ở báo The Economist:
Do not be stuffy,
Use the language of everyday speech, not that of spokesmen, lawyers or bureaucrats,
Do not be hectoring or arrogant. Those who disagree with you are not necessarily stupid or insane.
Do not be too pleased with yourself. Don't boast of your own cleverness by telling readers that you correctly predicted something or that you have a scoop.
Do not be too chatty.
Do not be too didactic. If too many sentences begin Compare, Consider, Expect, Imagine, Look at, Note, Prepare for, Remember or Take, readers will think they are reading a textbook...

p/s: Do your best to be lucid (“I see but one rule: to be clear”, Stendhal). Simple sentences help. Keep complicated constructions and gimmicks to a minimum, if necessary by remembering the New Yorker's comment: “Backward ran the sentences until reeled the mind.”


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