There are countless authors who criticize the contemporary use of English to the greatest extent possible to ensure that their writing is flawless. David Foster Wallace and George Orwell are two of many authors who criticize modern English literature and offer solutions to what they believe to be common literary errors. Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" focuses on writing clearly, simply and on the mistakes you are prone to make if you do not write in this style. On the other hand, Wallace's "Authority and American Usage" discusses the ongoing usage wars of modern English writing and the importance of authority and credibility in writing, drawing a clear line between usage and ethics. Although both authors believe that there are many flaws in English literature, their literary styles differ from each other and do not offer the same solutions to their very different criticisms. As a result, neither Orwell nor Wallace would agree with each other on the issue of common literary errors and the techniques needed to resolve these problems. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Orwell begins "Politics and the English Language" by arguing that the English language is going in the wrong direction by stating, "Most people who take the slightest interest in the question would admit that the English language is in a bad way." Orwell attributes the blame this decline on bad habits that are “spread by imitation”. The bad habits that Orwell mentions in his essay are the use of dying metaphors, verbal operators/false arts, pretentious diction and meaningless words argues that these habits are the cause of the decline is because they complicate something that can be written more simply “As I have tried to demonstrate, modern writing at its worst is not about choosing words by their meaning and inventing images to make the meaning clearer It involves putting together long strips of words already arranged by someone else, and making the results presentable with real nonsense. The appeal of this way of writing is that it's easy. It is even easier, even faster, once you get into the habit, to say In my opinion it is not an unjustifiable assumption than to say I think. If you use ready-made sentences, not only do you not have to worry about the rhythm of your sentences, since these sentences are usually arranged to be more or less euphonious. "Orwell believes, and tries to persuade the reader, that these habits will cause the writer to miss the meaning of what he is writing. He criticizes modern English by saying that writers use words and phrases that are commonly used, or that have been used before by someone else, not because they relate to what they're writing but because it's much easier to do so instead of sitting down and actually thinking for yourself This ends up making the written work feel scattered and unclear, which is the opposite of what Orwell preaches about: clear writing. Orwell also states that insincerity in writing is the cause of clear writing. He says: “The great enemy of clear speech is insincerity real and declared purposes, we turn as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted sayings, like cuttlefish splashing ink. When a writer is not sincere in his work, he creates a barrier between his true message and the message that actually conveys to his audience because he starts spewing out random, meaningless words and phrases which then result in writing that is anything but clear. Although Orwellbelieves that the English language is going down a bad path, believes that it can be saved. “I said before that the decay of our language is probably curable.” List six specific things that will improve contemporary English for most situations. The list says: i. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech that you are used to seeing in print. ii. Never use a long word where a short word will do.iii. If it is possible to cut a word, always cut it. iv. Never use the passive where you can use the active. v. Never use a foreign phrase, scientific word, or slang word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. you. Break any of these rules before saying something overtly barbaric. "This set of rules, according to Orwell, will improve writing and will also help save the use of modern English, but it may take time to do so. Orwell does not think that writing will change immediately because people "have become accustomed to writing in the style now fashionable." With these changes Orwell believes that writing will become more unique. "You can't change everything in an instant, but you can at least change your habits, and from time to time you can even, if you joke loud enough, say some worn-out and useless phrase: some boot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, crucible, trial by fire, real hell or other lump of verbal waste – in the dustbin where it belongs. write more creatively and clearly. Unlike of Orwell, Wallace is not so much concerned with clear writing as he is with drawing a clear line between usage and ethics, which are the causes of the “Usage War” which he mentions throughout his essay The usage war is a struggle between prescriptivism (usage), or SNOOT, and descriptivism (ethics), two styles of writing that are totally opposite from each other. In his essay, Wallace refers to prescriptivists as “linguistic conservatives,” Wallace believing that there should be a set of rules to determine what is right or wrong in English usage, while descriptivists are labeled “linguistic liberals” who do not they believe in establishing guidelines on what should be considered right or wrong and privileging ethics over logic. Wallace believes that to solve the problem between usage and ethics, you need to build credibility to have authority over the reader, which is why he is a big fan of Bryan Garner's A Dictionary of Modern American Usage. He describes Garner as “a genius because the Dictionary of Modern American Usage pretty much solves the authority crisis of the usage wars. Garner manages to control the co-presence of rhetorical appeals so intelligently that he seems able to transcend both fields of Usage Wars and simply tell the truth, and in a way that doesn't detract from his own credibility but rather enhances it. He uses War by creating credibility in his writing which thus creates authority. “Indeed, a large part of the design of any dictionary in contemporary use will be to establish this authority. If this seems rather obvious, know that no one before Garner seems to have understood it: that the challenge of the lexicographer now is not only to be accurate and complete but credible. That in the absence of unquestioned authority in language, the reader must now be pushed or persuaded to grant a dictionary its authority, freely and for what appear to be good reasons. What Wallace is trying to say here is that a writer must be able to build credibility in order for the reader to surrender their trust to gain authority. Garner completed this by creating enough credibility in his dictionary to make the reader believe his work. Examining Orwell's and Wallace's criticisms of the contemporary use of English and their own.