From "Politics and the English Language". Read it here.
The short version:
1. Avoid cliches.
2. Use short words.
3. Cut out words you don't need.
4. Use active, not passive, verbs.
5. Avoid foreign words and jargon.
6. Feel free to break these rules.
Read a slightly longer version here.
Great rules if you are a telegrapher or a modernist author. Post-modernists use rule 6.
