• Verbs has to agree with their subjects. 
  • Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. 
  • And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction. 
  • It is wrong to ever split an infinitive. 
  • Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re old hat.) 
  • Also, always avoid annoying alliteration. 
  • Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies. 
  • Be more or less specific. 
  • Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary 
  • No sentence fragments. 
  • Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used. 
  • Foreign words and phrases are not à propos. 
  • Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous. 
  • One should never generalize. 
  • Comparisons are as bad as clichés. 
  • Don’t use no double negatives. 
  • Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc. 
  • One word sentences? Eliminate. 
  • Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake. 
  • The passive voice is to be avoided. 
  • Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas. 
  • Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice. 
  • Kill all exclamation points!!! 
  • Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them 
  • Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earthshaking ideas. 
  • Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed. 
  • Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.” 
  • If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it effectively. 
  • Puns are for children, not from groan readers. 
  • Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms. 
  • Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed. 
  • Who needs rhetorical questions? 
  • Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

    And finally…

  • Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
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