Most of these are actually old rules, but these offenses have popped up repeatedly in documents I’ve edited, so they’re worth dusting off and revisiting. Avoid using buzzwords, especially in a way in which they were not originally intended. Examples include: impact, utilize, incentivise . Impact used to be a noun that referred to the effect of a collision; utilize means “to find a profitable or practical use for,” and incentivise just makes me shudder. Affect, use, and motivate are more reader friendly and easier to spell. Do not fill your novel (or report) with clichés. Hanging by a thread, cold as ice, dead as a doornail (whatever the hell that means) are old hat and old school. You can be more creative. Why use ing verbs when present tense verbs work harder? Sloggy: She was jogging down the sidewalk when a car suddenly started veering off the road… Crisp: She jogged down the sidewalk. Suddenly, a car veered off the road Keep verbs phases together whenever possible. Acceptable: S...