WRITING TIPS THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER FORGET

1.   Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
2.   Always avoid alliteration.
3.   Avoid cliches like the plague.  They're old hat.
4.   Employ the vernacular.
5.   Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6.   Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7.   It is wrong to ever split the infinitive.
8.   Contractions aren't necessary.
9.   Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10. One should never generalize.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "I hate quotations.  Tell me what you know."
12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
13. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14. Be more or less specific.
15. Understatement is always best.
16. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
17. One word sentences?  Eliminate.
18. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
19. The passive voice is to be avoided.
20. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.

Added in 2002