Directions: Proofreading and error correction. Now , it is clear that the decline of language must ultimately have political and 1 economic al causes: i t is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an 2 a ffect can become a cause, 3 r ei nforce the original cause and producing the same e ffect in an intens ified form, and so on in definitely. A man may 4 take drink because he feels himself to be a failure. And then fail are the 5 most completely because he drinks. It i s rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It b ecomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish , b ut the 6 slo ve n of our languages makes it clearly for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the processes 7 i r reversible . Modern English , especially written English , i s full of bad habits which are spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, 8 and think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration: so t hat the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not exclusive 9 concerning of professional writers. I will come back to this 10 present , a nd I hope that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become clearer