Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economical causes: it is not due simply to the bad 1_______ _ ____ influence of this or that individual writers. But an effect can become 2____________ a cause, reinforce the original cause and producing the same effect 3________ _ ___ in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take drink 4____________ because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the most 5____________ completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the sloven of our language makes 6_______ __ ___ it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is irreversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of 7_________ _ __ bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets ride of these habits one can think more clearly, and think clearly is a necessary first 8____________ step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concerning of pro- 9____________ fessional writers. I will come back to this present, and I hope that by 10_________ _ __ that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become clearer.