{"id":9830,"date":"2026-06-29T19:11:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/?p=9830"},"modified":"2026-06-29T19:11:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:11:37","slug":"george-orwell-shared-6-rules-for-writing-in-1946-people-say-theyre-more-essential-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/?p=9830","title":{"rendered":"George Orwell shared \u20186 rules for writing\u2019 in 1946. People say they\u2019re more essential than ever."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

These are great rules for anyone, even if you aren\u2019t a writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author George Orwell is best known for his books 1984<\/em> andAnimal Farm<\/em><\/a>. He was an English novelist whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair, according to the Orwell Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orwell was a prolific writer known for his politically themed novels<\/a> and essays. His life came to an end in 1950 at just 46 years old after a battle with advanced tuberculosis. But in those short years, his writing<\/a> came to inspire millions of readers around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1946, Orwell shared a few of his writing<\/a> rules with readers in an essay titled \u201cPolitics and the English Language<\/a>.\u201d The essay features Orwell\u2019s commentary on the craft of writing<\/a>, according to Douglas E. Abrams, a University of Missouri law professor. In his paper \u201cOrwell\u2019s Six Cures to Bad Writing<\/a>,\u201d Abrams writes that for Orwell, \u201cGood writing depends on sound grammar, spelling, style, and syntax, but it also depends on willingness to bend or break the \u2018rules\u2019 when advisable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orwell didn\u2019t hold back his opinion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Orwell writes, \u201c[T]he English language is in a bad way<\/a>.\u201d He argues that \u201cdebased\u201d prose is marked by \u201cabuse,\u201d \u201cslovenliness,\u201d and a \u201clifeless, imitative style\u201d nearly devoid of \u201ca fresh, vivid, homemade turn of speech.\u201d A \u201ctendency \u2026 away from concreteness,\u201d he says, has left writing \u201cdreary,\u201d \u201cugly,\u201d and \u201cinaccurate.\u201d \u201cVagueness and sheer incompetence,\u201d Orwell concludes, \u201care the most marked characteristics of modern English prose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, Orwell shared six rules he stood by to help others write clearly and concisely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis last effort of the mind cuts out all stale or mixed images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and humbug and vagueness generally,\u201d Orwell wrote. \u201cBut one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Orwell\u2019s Six Rules for Writing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Nearly 80 years later, it still holds up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Although Orwell\u2019s advice dates back to 1946, writers today still credit his tips with making them better writers. People on Reddit shared<\/a> how his rules have impacted their ability to write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cGeorge Orwell\u2019s writing advice is amazingly instructive when it comes to writing with clarity,\u201d one person wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another commented, \u201cFollowing the first two rules changed my writing completely (for the better), I think sometime in college. I think people mistake those rules to mean \u2018always<\/em> use a shorter word or fewer words,\u2019 which isn\u2019t the case. But it takes some experience to figure out good exceptions to the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another writer noted, \u201cI think it\u2019s literally follow 1-5, unless it reads better to break them, then use 6. If you aren\u2019t writing for yourself, write something your readers will understand without a dictionary or reference texts. Knowing your audience is extremely important; I feel these rules are especially important when writing about fields with their own \u2018language\u2019 (words used in ways the common person would not assume).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    These are great rules for anyone, even if you aren\u2019t a writer. Author George Orwell is best known for his books 1984 andAnimal Farm. He was an English<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/735028176_1016916634048327_8502534669753593568_n.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9832,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9830\/revisions\/9832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}