|
In today's world, George Orwell would turn over in his grave. This sentence pretty much typifies some of the doozer sentences teachers find in students' papers. Although the sentiment is clear, the sentence is bad on two counts. First, save for its subject, it is entirely composed of clichés, those worn out "ready-made phrases" that provoked George Orwell, the ghostly don of many freshman composition classes, into writing "Politics and the English Language." Second, the opening phrase screws up the sentence's implied meaning. Surely with sentences like this one, Orwell never rested quietly in his grave. In fact, I'm sure he quickly quit his coffin to keep on fighting against "the debasement of language" to haunt and animate legions of writers. If he has been the cause of countless cases of writer's block, he has also been a responsible psychoprompt, nudging writers along, teaching them his craft, and turning them into good writers and writing teachers.
The words, phrases, and constructions listed below are ones some of my colleagues would most like to throw in the dustbin.
In introductions/thesis: I will now explain, My purpose is to
Introduction openings: What would you do if?, Imagine that, Ever since the beginning of time
Using an adverb of relationship as a conjunctive adverb: Because, Although,
Vague subjects: they, people, it, society, we
No antecedents: In the text, it says
Nonstandard or illogical words and phrases: irregardless, very unique person
Clichés: nowadays, in this day and age, in today's world, today's society/culture, in everyday life, in the world today, according to Webster's Dictionary
Unnecessary phrases: in my opinion, I believe, I think, I feel, as you/we can see, obviously, as I said before, In conclusion, not to mention
Wordy constructions: Say that we have, we as Americans
Glittering generalities, especially about truth: It is true that many college students, All people know that
Lazy words and abbreviations: things, etc., and so on
Meaningless words: man, mankind, human beings
Bollixed or redundant constructions: The reason is because
Manipulative language, frequently scare words: weapons of mass destruction
This hastily compiled list is certainly not complete, but it is representative of much of the vague, clouded, padded writing we see as writing teachers. In the spirit of "Politics and the English Language," the phrase in the last category is for Orwell. Does it bother you? And what does it mean to you? Write to us! We would love to have readers send in samples of language they would like to send to the dustbin. Or is it dumpster now?
|
|
