Prone_ means lying flat and face downward. One can not lie prone on the
back. _Supine_ means lying on the back.

Use _pseudonym_, a good English word, or _pen name_, and not _nom de
plume_, which isn't even good French. Says L'Intermediaire, a French
journal: "We do not know in our language the expression _nom de plume_.
We have the phrase _nom de guerre_."

Don't use _most_ for _almost_, as, _I am most as tall as you_.

Never write _kiddies_ or _tots_. Write _kids_ when referring to young
goats or to children in stories written in a spirit of levity, as, _This
is the big day for the kids on Belle Isle_. Don't try to arouse sympathy
for children in unfortunate circumstances by calling them _poor little
tots_, or _poor kiddies_.

Avoid words borrowed from the yellow-backs, such as, _The bullet crashed
through his brain_, _She tripped down the steps_. Try such sentences as
this on your hisser: _"I will not go," he hissed._

In news stories don't use thieves' slang, as, _dick_, _frisk_, _dip_,
_gat_.

Don't use the editorial _we_. It is old-fashioned. Say _The Detroit
News_.

Don't refer to the Darwinian theory or to Dr. Osler's theory without
knowing what they mean.

Don't call _a revolver a gun_ or _a pistol a revolver_. It is _automatic
pistol_.

Reporters frequently quote Kipling to the effect that west is west, east
is east, and never the twain shall meet. But if they knew the poem, they
would be aware of the fact that the next line qualifies the quoted lines
and vitiates the observation.

_The exception proves the rule_ is a phrase that arises from ignorance,
though common to good writers. The original word was _preuves_, which
did not mean _proves_ but _tests_.

Say in bad _condition_, not in bad _shape_.

A toga was a garment worn by a Roman citizen. The word is persistently
misused to refer to senatorial honors.

Avoid newspaper slang. To all but a few of our readers the word _story_
means not _an item of news_ in the paper but a _piece of fiction_. To
speak of a _story_ meaning a piece for the paper is to confuse them. Say
_article_ or _item_.

Don't write _alright_. There is no such word in the language.

Avoid poetic forms. Do not use _amongst_ for _among_. _Thither_ and
_whither_ have a bookish sound. Prefer the simple _while_ to the fancy
_whilst_.

There are no degrees of _certainty_. Don't write a thing seems _more
certain_.

_Amateur_ means _non-professional_, not necessarily _unskil