[eganist]

> William Safire's Rules for Writers:

> Remember to [preserve the full] infinitive.

> [Always use] the [active] voice.

> [Always] put statements in the [positive] form.

> Verbs have to agree with their subjects. (nobody9999 corrected this one already - was "has" in place of "have")

> Proofread carefully to see if you [leave] words out.

For those not in on the joke. Not sure if this would be how Safire would correct it, but I made an effort.

[nobody9999]

I didn't "correct" anything. Those are all Safire's words and none of mine.

Safire was using sarcasm through those examples to get his point across.

[eganist]

The original:

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/04/archives/on-language-the-...

> • Verbs has to agree with their subjects.

But I saw what happened. Googling Safire's rules, the "helpful" top result via Google quoted a source that misquoted Safire, which I'm guessing is how it made it into your comment. So no worries.

[FemmeAndroid]

Thanks for this. I was stuck trying to figure out that line.

[nobody9999]

Thank you for the correction and the original link.

It's much appreciated!

[criddell]

> Proofread carefully to see if you [leave] words out.

Shouldn't it be left rather than leave?

[eganist]

Good catch, though the fix I don't think is quite right. "Proofread carefully to see if you [have left/are leaving] words out" probably should've been what I wrote. I invite a much more competent writer to fact-check me.

"Proofread carefully to see if you [leave] words out." I believe is grammatically correct but a bit nonsensical as I'm no longer in the act of writing words when I'm proofreading. But again, I'm also possibly just embarrassing myself at this point.