Sublime

What to include, what to leave out.

It pays to write short sentences and short paragraphs, and to avoid difficult words.

The defense of the English language . . . has nothing to do with correct grammar and syntax, which are of no importance so long as one makes one’s meaning clear. . . . Though it does imply using the fewest and shortest words that will cover one’s meaning. What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way around.

In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.

we can certainly affect the language, and those of us who use it professionally are responsible for looking after it.

The abbreviations etc., i.e., and e.g., the abbreviations for academic degrees, and titles that follow a name are parenthetic and should be punctuated accordingly.

Weaver was a professor of rhetoric.