How to Write Clearly / Rules and Exercises on English Composition

There is scarcely any better training, rhetorical as well as logical, than the task of construing Thucydides into genuine English; but the flat, vague, long-winded Greek-English and Latin-English imposture that is often tolerated in our examinations and is allowed to pass current for genuine English, diminishes instead of increasing the power that our pupils should possess over their native language.

Do not use "and which" for "which."

Writing clearly does not imply thinking clearly

"Certain" is often used for "some,"

"that" depends upon "so" or "statement."

"I do not see them both—I see only one of them."

"You say you don't want both butter and honey—you want butter or honey; I, on the contrary, do not want butter or honey—I want them both."

not ought to be separated from intend

Use "every" or "a single

The art of writing forcibly is, of course, a valuable acquisition—almost as valuable as the art of writing clearly. But forcible expression is not, like clear expression, a mere question of mechanism and of the manipulation of words; it is a much higher power, and implies much more.

Writing clearly does not imply thinking clearly.