breaking the rules

Looking back here, I noticed I misspelled a word. And then I decided that I am not going to correct it. I will try to avoid typos and spelling errors, but I will not look back. Spelling was free form until all those dictionary people and English teachers decided to bring it under control a couple of centuries back. I like looking at the old writing and seeing how many variations existed for the same word and yet one could figure out the word meaning intended.

In plain language work, we want to avoid making our readers work unnecessarily so spelling is important. But rigidity on things like grammar doesn't always improve understanding.

Timothy Perrin, who wrote Better Writing for Lawyers said he had "one unbreakable rule":

"Occasionally, a good writer breaks rules for an effect. That's fine provided she knows what she is doing... So that is my only unbreakable rule. You can break any rule I tell you if *you know the rule*, you know you are breaking it and *you can give a good reason why."