Six Resolutions for Writers Who Want to Be Read

Some style books are cranky, others punny, and most just dull. Then there's The Economist Style Guide (Profile Books, 2005). Largely the work of editor John Grimond, this British guide to writing with clarity and precision is helpful, sensible, and refreshingly unstuffy. In other words, it heeds its own advice.

That good advice first shows up in the introduction, which offers six precepts for keeping our readers engaged:

• Do not be stuffy. Use the language of everyday speech, not that of spokesmen, lawyers or bureaucrats. . . . Pomposity and long-windedness tend to obscure meaning, or reveal the lack of it: strip them away in favour of plain words.


• Do not be hectoring or arrogant. Those who disagree with you are not necessarily stupid or insane. Nobody needs to be described as silly: let your analysis show that he is.


• 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. You are more likely to bore or irritate them than to impress them.


• Do not be too chatty. Surpise, surprise is more irritating than informative. So is Ho, ho and, in the middle of a sentence, wait for it, etc.


• 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 (or, indeed, a style book).


• 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. . . . Clear thinking is the key to clear writing.

If you have no serious intention of eating any less in 2008 or exercising any more, you could do far worse than adopt these six rules as your New Year's resolutions.

As you may have noticed, John Grimond's guide favors British conventions for spelling and punctuation, so Americans should still leave room on their shelves for The Associated Press Stylebook or The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. Still, when it comes to sound advice on topics ranging from jargon ("Avoid it") and short words ("Use them") to critique ("a noun") and panacea ("Beware of cliché"), The Economist Style Guide admirably serves all users of the English language.

You'll find a short version of the guide at Economist.com.

More Advice for Writers:

• Kurt Vonnegut on Writing with Style
• Ten Quick Tips to Improve Your Writing
• George Orwell's Rules for Writers

Image: The Economist Style Guide, Profile Books Ltd., 2005