Source identified
“Jargon, which is not so much bad writing as the avoidance of writing.”
Jargon is criticized as evasive language that circles around meaning instead of doing the harder work of choosing direct, responsible words.
Source note: On the Art of Writing, Lecture VI, Project Gutenberg #17470; Quiller-Couch is recalling the preceding lecture’s argument about jargon and prose.
Source identified
“Omit needless words.”
Conciseness is treated as removal of words that do no useful work, not as a demand that every sentence be short or stripped of necessary detail.
Source note: The Elements of Style, Chapter III, Rule 13, Project Gutenberg #37134; the surrounding paragraph explicitly says detail need not be eliminated.
Source identified
“Use the active voice.”
The rule favors direct sentence construction when it makes agency clearer, while the surrounding discussion still allows passive voice when context requires it.
Source note: The Elements of Style, Chapter III, Rule 10, Project Gutenberg #37134; Strunk immediately qualifies the rule by noting legitimate uses of passive construction.
Source identified
“Vigorous writing is concise.”
Strunk links force with economy: prose becomes stronger when each word contributes to the sentence rather than merely increasing its length.
Source note: The Elements of Style, Chapter III, Rule 13, Project Gutenberg #37134; this sentence introduces the explanation of “Omit needless words.”
Source identified
“Falsehood is so easy, truth so difficult.”
Voice: Narrator voice · Narrator
The narrator warns that invention and distortion can come more easily than an accurate rendering of reality, especially when a writer prefers a pleasing picture.
Source note: Adam Bede, Chapter XVII; the sentence appears in Eliot’s narrator-level discussion of realism and the difficulty of telling a simple story truthfully.
Source identified
“Use definite, specific, concrete language.”
Concrete and specific wording can reduce interpretive work for the reader by replacing vague generalities with language tied to identifiable actions, objects or details.
Source note: The Elements of Style, Chapter III, Rule 12, Project Gutenberg #37134; Strunk follows the heading with examples contrasting vague and concrete phrasing.