ABSTRACT
Most broadcast organizations have a view about good style, and though they differ in detail, most would agree that good style is usually whatever makes good sense. George Orwell wrote Politics and the English Language in 1946, but his advice
still holds true today: • Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to
seeing in print. • Never use a long word where a short one will do. • If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out. • Never use the passive where you can use the active. • Never use a foreign phrase, scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of
an everyday English equivalent. • Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. ∗ Newsman’s English, Heinemann, 1972; George Orwell, Politics and the English Language; Routledge, 1940.
