![]() ![]() of burning bodies in Hiroshima) is actually desirable. When your aim is to make such atrocities excusable, language which doesn’t evoke any clear mental image (e.g. Sentences are saved from fizzling out (because the thought or idea being conveyed is not particularly striking) by largely meaningless closing platitudes such as greatly to be desired or brought to a satisfactory conclusion. The passive voice is also common, and writing phrases like by examination of instead of the more direct by examining. make contact with someone, which essentially means ‘contact’ someone. Operators or Verbal False Limbs: this is when a longer and rather vague phrase is used in place of a single-word (and more direct) verb, e.g. Orwell’s objection to such dying metaphors is that writers use them without even thinking about what the phrases actually mean, such as when people misuse toe the line by writing it as tow the line, or when they mix their metaphors, again, because they’re not interested in what those images evoke. Orwell cites a number of examples, including toe the line, no axe to grind, Achilles’ heel, and swansong. ![]() Dying Metaphors: these are figures of speech which writers lazily reach for, even though such phrases are worn-out and can no longer convey a vivid image. ![]()
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