Topic > Politics and the English Language by George Orwell

Writers also change sentences or use them out of context, so that they no longer have the potential to hold people's attention. Orwell also believed that the use of foreign phrases was irrelevant stating, “There is no real need for any of the hundreds of foreign phrases now in the English language.” The use of foreign phrases and scientific jargon makes the writing difficult to understand. According to him we need to replace them with English sentences. The author had no suggestions as to what new phrases could be used. The English language is constantly evolving, due to influences from all over the world. Note the tendency of English writing and political speeches to create verbatim phrases and to write or speak in the passive voice, which creates long-winded sentences. Writers use unnecessary verbs and nouns to increase word count and to make their writing impressive. Political writers and speakers use “pretentious diction” to try to make boring or repugnant statements appealing or rational. Orwell believed that political writing was the enemy of simple, direct writing